Source: The Canadian Press

The dropping of fraud charges against a Toronto man accused of bilking dozens of investors out of $27 million has Attorney General Chris Bentley concerned, and the opposition warning Ontario’s courts are underfunded.

Police charged Tzvi Erez with fraud last year, alleging he was running a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to pay returns to his original investors. The victims were primarily members of Toronto’s Jewish community.

It was learned this week that Crown prosecutors opted to drop the charges in September, blaming a lack of resources to go ahead with the complicated case.

The province “does not walk away” from criminal cases and always finds the money to prosecute serious charges, insisted Bentley.

“We have resources for the cases that need them and where more are required, we find them,” he said.

“I have asked the chief prosecutor to get to the bottom of it, and I’ve asked for the report as quickly as possible.”

Not good enough, said the New Democrats, who want a much broader investigation into how the case was handled and why the charges were dropped.

“This requires a major investigation into how the Ministry of the Attorney General could screw up so thoroughly and so badly,” said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.

“I’m confident that no Crown would unilaterally withdraw charges like this without consulting some superiors, if only to cover their own behind.”

The government should be pursuing the alleged fraud case with the full weight of the law, said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

“The minister should make absolutely clear why this guy is being let off the hook, who made the call,” said Hudak.

“Sadly, it’s just the latest example of Dalton McGuinty’s catch-and-release justice system.”

However, Bentley said he was confident he would quickly find out what had gone wrong in the Erez case, admitting he learned about the dropped charges in the media.

“Some of the reports that I’ve heard are not consistent with the approach and principles that we follow in prosecuting fraud cases,” he said. “We’ll get to the bottom of it, and I’ll get the report soon.”

This was a high-profile case with dozens of victims and millions of dollars lost, but there are likely other, smaller cases that are also getting tossed because of a lack of court time, said Kormos.

“This, I believe, is indicative of a serious problem within our criminal justice system,” he said.

“I’m confident this happens frequently in our courts, that cases are either bargained away in plea bargaining to inappropriate levels of charges and inappropriate sentences, or they’re simply withdrawn.”

Bentley couldn’t say if charges against Erez could be reinstated, but Kormos predicted the victims of the alleged Ponzi scheme likely won’t get justice because of the time that has elapsed without a trial.

“It’s very difficult now for the attorney general or the Crown to lay charges because of the time that’s flown already.”

Erez, 43, was once a classical concert pianist who released two well-regarded albums. His alleged scheme began in 2003.