VANCOUVER, November 25, 2004
CP
A former FBI agent featured in the hit Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit
9/11 who testified on behalf of accused Air India bomber Ajaib Singh
Bagri was biased and ``demonstrably incompetent'' and should not be
believed, a prosecutor argued Wednesday.
Prosecutor Richard Cairns said Jack Cloonan, who worked with the FBI
on the Islamic terrorism file for years, was not qualified as an expert
when he testified at the international terrorism trial about FBI procedures.
Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with murder and conspiracy
in the deaths of 331 people in two bombings directed at Air India planes
in 1985.
The prosecution says bags laden with explosives were loaded in Vancouver
and transferred to Air India jets. One detonated on flight 182 as it
flew off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard. It is
alleged the second went off prematurely, killing two baggage handlers
in Tokyo's Narita airport.
Cloonan was harshly critical of former FBI agent Ron Parrish, who was
the handler for an informant who claimed Bagri had confessed to him
back in 1985.
Parrish testified that the informant, a boyhood friend of Bagri known
as John, told the FBI special agent on Sept. 25, 1985 that Bagri had
claimed responsibility for the Air India bombing during a chat outside
a New Jersey gas station a few days before.
But Parrish said he disguised the information when he wrote up a memo
outlining it and other intelligence on Sikh extremists, because he wanted
to protect the identity of John, who was adamant he did not want to
be a witness.
Cloonan said Parrish did not follow proper procedure and buried significant
information about the terrorist attack at the bottom of a telex that
was passed on to the RCMP.
``I cannot think, based on my experience, of a more egregious breach
of trust than what you just described,'' Cloonan said to Bagri lawyer
Michael Code after he laid out Parrish's actions. ``This is an extremely
serious matter.''
Cairns said Cloonan's criticisms did not hold up on cross-examination
because Cloonan was forced to admit that Parrish's supervisors had no
problem with how the agent handled his source information about Bagri.
``He was an extremely biased witness who was employed as Bagri's paid
investigator,'' Cairns said of Cloonan. ``He was aware that his evidence
was meant to criticize Parrish. In the Crown's submission his bias was
obvious.''
Cairns said Cloonan was evasive during cross-examination and complained
several times that he could not answer some of the questions because
he did not have enough information about the file.
``Despite the fact that Cloonan was not familiar with all the circumstances
of this case, he was willing to travel to this country and testify before
this court for the purpose of criticizing Parrish's actions,'' Cairns
told Justice Ian Josephson.
He noted that Cloonan had been paid to locate other Bagri defence witnesses,
including a man called Gurmit Singh Kalotia, who later admitted in court
that he was not the ``Gurmit Singh'' who lived with John and several
others in New York in September 1985.
``He is demonstrably incompetent. He is the man responsible for bringing
the wrong Gurmit to testify before this court,'' Cairns said.
The trial, which has dragged on for more than a year, is expected to
wrap up in the next few weeks. Josephson is expected to take anywhere
from one to three months to deliberate the men's fate.