In this article: Recap | Notebook

Recap

Darren Sukonick, a partner at Torys LLP and one of the lawyers who worked on Hollinger International's sale of Canadian newspapers to Canwest, had advised Conrad Black, Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee it was unnecessary for them to disclose to Canwest how much they were receiving in non-compete fees. Although Black and his co-defendants opted not to heed Sukonick's advice, the lawyer admitted in his videotaped testimony that he had recommended keeping to themselves the details of the payments from Canwest.

Canwest purchased the newspapers for $3.5-billion in a deal that also included $80-million in non-compete payments. Black, Atkinson and Boultbee pocketed $60-million in fees from the sale - money the U.S. prosecutors are alleging should have gone to Hollinger International.

"At this stage in time, I was recommending for privacy reasons that they not be disclosed," Sukonick said.

An October 2000 e-mail indicated it was Sukonick who suggested keeping the details secret after Atkinson called for Canwest to write separate cheques to each of the defedants “so it would have all been out in the open.”

“I wonder if for privacy reasons you might prefer to have one cheque written to Ravelston [Black’s private company],” Sukonick said in the e-mail to Atkinson. “That way, CanWest need not know how much has been allocated to each individual.”

Under questioning from U.S. prosecutor Julie Ruder, Sukonick nonetheless insisted he had "never" told Atkinson to use the agreements as a way to avoid paying taxes.

Unlike his two co-defendants, Black is not facing any charges related to the non-compete payments from Canwest. The company had requested a deal be reached with Black and his former business partner, David Radler, in order to prevent the two from starting rival publications after the sale.

Notebook

• "A fire has broken out in another part of the building," trial attendees were told yesterday. "You are in a safe area.” Reporters seem to agree that this was definitely the highlight of the day. Macleans.ca blogger Mark Steyn likened the announcement to the situation facing embattled Torys lawyer Darren Sukonick: "A fire has broken out in another part of the Hollinger group. You are in a safe area - as long as you cooperate."
  
  Among those too nervous to find analogies in the situation were some who wondered if those weren't the last words people heard in the World Trade Center, the Toronto Sun's Peter Worthington notes. Judge St. Eve was unperturbed, the National Post's Peter Brieger reports, assuring the courtroom that "We will eventually hear that all is safe."
  
• Worthington notes a rare moment of levity amidst Sukonick's interminable testimony, when defendant Jack Boultbee tripped and accidentally unplugged a television. "Obstruction of justice!" cried his lawyer, Gus Newman. At least someone's having fun.
  
• Sukonick may be boring, but what a dreamboat! "[A] notably handsome guy, with chiselled features," was how The Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente described him yesterday. Today, the Star's Rick Westhead deems him "ruddy." Judge for yourself.
  
• Not for the first time in the trial, the question of how many national newspapers Canada has came up in an exchange between Sukonick and lead defence council Edward Genson(whose style is often described as "disarming.")"I believe The Globe and Mail says they are a national paper too," Sukonick said when Genson referred to the National Post as the sole example. "Lord Black beamed," Brieger notes.
  
• "He is always in the paper with lots of famous people, right?" Genson asked of Black in a later exchange. "He was there with what's his name, Chester Blair?"
  
  "I think you mean Tony Blair," a disarmed Sukonick offered.
  
  "Right, Tony Blair," Mr. Genson replied.
  
• The Australian's headlines its report of the Lord and Lady's shambolic South Pacific vacation as follows: "Black's $US570k Bora Bora whinge."
  
• "Travel agencies are great for offering special deals and saving you money," a terribly snarky Linwood Barclay writes in the Toronto Star. "But if you manage to score a $900,000 trip to the Bahamas for $750,000 and you get there and find out you don't get fresh towels every day and there's no mint on your pillow, you're going to wish you'd spent the extra hundred and fifty grand. Better to spend $900,000 and be happy than $750,000 and be disappointed, I always say." There's a Belinda joke in there too.
  
• Quill & Quire accuses Frank of using its photos from George Jonas' book launch, which Lord and Lady Black famously attended, without permission.

With files from Canadian Press

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