Lawyers Weekly Interviews Joven Narwal Regarding Foreign Investigations

Kim Arnott of the Lawyers Weekly, a leading newspaper for the Canadian legal profession, interviewed Joven Narwal regarding parallel criminal investigations. An -excerpt from the article which ran the week of February 27, 2017, is reproduced below:

Parallel criminal investigations – which may see scrutiny occurring in one country and prosecution in another – are becoming increasingly frequent, says Vancouver Bar Association president and criminal lawyer, Joven Narwal.

He’s concerned that such investigations can lead to an abuse of process, including “jurisdiction shopping”, and can be difficult to defend because of the law of disclosure around investigative steps in foreign jurisdictions.

“The state of the law, in some ways, has led to the effective immunization of foreign law enforcement authorities, and that has the potential toward tremendous unfairness”, Narwal says.

He muses about the potential for a constitutional challenge to the exceptions under s. 193 that allow for sharing of intercepted information, as well as litigation around disclosure and trial fairness issues.

“I think a lot of the most cutting-edge Charter litigation is occurring and will occur in the context of these co-operative investigations.”

Joven Narwal and his team have successfully defended cases involving investigative steps taken abroad and involving parallel criminal investigations. To learn more about our litigation success, please visit Mr. Narwal’s profile.