Cameron Jay Ortis, a senior intelligence official at the RCMP, leaves the courthouse in Ottawa after being granted bail on October 22, 2019. A former colleague of Ortis, who is accused of disclosing secrets to people of interest to police, has testified in court that Ortis never mentioned taking part in undercover operations.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – A former colleague of Cameron Jay Ortis, who is accused of disclosing secrets to people of interest to police, has testified in court that Ortis never mentioned taking part in undercover operations.
Dan Morris told the Ontario Superior Court that Ortis did not speak to him about contacting the targets of RCMP investigations.
The Crown alleges Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence official, anonymously sent classified information in 2015 to people who were of investigative interest to the national police force.
Ortis, 51, has pleaded not guilty to violating the Security of Information Act by allegedly revealing secrets to three individuals and trying to do so in a fourth instance.
Ortis’s lawyers have said they will argue their client had the authority to take the actions he did.
Reporters and the general public were excluded from the courtroom for Morris’s appearance Monday, but an edited transcript of his testimony was released today.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2023.