by Andrew Duffy
Source: The Ottawa Citizen
URL: [link]
Date: December 14, 2010

The federal case against Mohamed Harkat makes him out to be not only a terrorist, but also a dishonest schemer who sought to marry a woman in Algeria, cheat his way to a taxi licence and collect government benefits to which he was not entitled.

Those allegations -- they were never proven in court -- are contained in legal disclosures made to Harkat as part of his security certificate case.

Federal Court Justice Simon Noel made them public last week in ruling against a defence motion to have the case thrown out as an abuse of process.

To support his contention that Harkat had enough information to properly defend himself, Noel detailed the legal disclosure in the case. It offers new details about Harkat's life in Canada.

In Ottawa, the government alleges, Harkat looked for someone to take a taxi driver's exam on his behalf in December 1999. A few months later, an acquaintance told Harkat that he had found someone willing to take the test for him, according to the disclosure document. (His wife Sophie Harkat said her husband did not hire anyone to take his taxi exam and only passed it on his fifth attempt.)

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