Mr. Justice Howard Borenstein has dismissed all charges against former Liberal CEO Pat Sorbara and Sudbury businessman Gerry Lougheed on the grounds that the Crown did not have enough evidence to convict them of bribery under the election act. Central to this interpretation was the defense claim that a bribe must be offered to a person who is a confirmed candidate, not just someone seeking a nomination, for the act to apply. The defence team for former Liberal CEO Pat Sorbara and Sudbury businessman Gerry Lougheed had been arguing for the last year that they should have never have been charged with bribery. They formally asked Borenstein to declare them not guilty two weeks ago and he took it under consideration. Today they are cleared of all charges. The Crown contended that someone is a candidate as soon as he or she announces an intention to run and that the law should protect the electoral process from bribery from the very beginning.
