Conrad Black's Coming To U.S. For Thursday Court Date -- But Can He Get Back Into Canada?

By: Mark Fitzgerald Conrad Black's arraignment on federal fraud charges was postponed for the second time Tuesday, but what really has the Canadian and British media buzzing is the question of what will happen after the former newspaper baron has posted bail.

As a British citizen living in his native Canada on a temporary resident's visa, "there is some risk that [Black] could have trouble re-entering Canada after his arraignment," Erik Reguly noted in The Times of London Monday.

In an interview with E&P last week, a spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada said he could not comment specifically on Black's status for privacy reasons. But Stephen Heckbert, director of communications for the agency, said that a foreign national accused of a serious crime could be denied re-entry into Canada.

Canada's immigration law states that a foreign national can be denied entry for, among other reasons, "committing an act outside Canada that is an offence in the place where it was committed and that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an indictable offence under an Act of Parliament."

The charges against Black -- eight counts of fraud that carry a combined maximum sentence of 40 years in prison -- would seem to qualify.

In a busy day on the Hollinger scandal front Tuesday, Black's arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago, which had already been postponed from Nov. 22 to Nov. 30, was pushed back to Dec. 1 because of a scheduling conflict with one of his attorneys.

Among Black's new U.S. attorneys, it was disclosed Tuesday, is Edward Genson, a defense lawyer well-known in Chicago for taking on high-profile clients.

Also Tuesday, a Black co-defendant, former Hollinger General Counsel Mark Kipnis, pleaded not guilty in the case. In August, he also pleaded not guilty in a related case that did not name Black as a defendant.

And in Canada on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail in Toronto reported that Torys LLP, a prominent Canadian law firm, has tentatively agreed to pay $30 million to Hollinger International to settle allegations that it acted improperly when it represented the firm in a series of transactions that the U.S. government now alleges resulted in the looting of millions by Black and others. The article by Jacquie McNish said if the agreement is formalized, it would be one the largest payments ever made by a Canadian law firm to settle allegations that it failed to act in a client's best interests.

There was nothing to indicate Tuesday that Black might have trouble getting back into Canada after his arraignment Thursday. Immigration spokesman Heckbert, speaking generally, said border police considering someone not facing a criminal charge in Canada -- as Black is not -- "wouldn't have reason to put someone in custody unless" authorities were asked to do so by another country.

Montreal-born Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001 after a highly publicized dispute with former Canadian Premier Jean Chr?tien, a favorite target of the paper Black created, the National Post. Chr?tien tried to prevent Black from accepting an invitation to be named a British peer by citing an obscure World War I-era law prohibiting Canadian citizens from taking titles in other nations.

But now that Lord Black of Crossharbour faces charges that he schemed with other Hollinger International executives to loot the newspaper publishing company of more than $80 million, renouncing Canadian citizenship looks like yet another misstep in the unraveling of his empire.

Black's former lieutenant-turned-informant, David Radler, reached an agreement this summer for a reduced prison term and the chance -- as a Canadian citizen -- to serve his sentence in the far easier confinement of Canada's federal penal system.

That would be one option closed to Black were he to be convicted on the eight fraud charges, which carry a combined maximum sentence of 40 years.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain, citing unspecified reports, said Black had apparently applied for repatriation.

Black shows every sign of wanting to aggressively fight the charges. In brief comments to reporters when he appeared at a Toronto book launch party on Thanksgiving, Black said there was "no truth or substance whatsoever to these charges."

"This has been one massive smear job from A to Z," Black said, according to an Associated Press account, "and it will have a surprise ending: ... a complete vindication of the defendants and exposure of their persecutors."