Fraud charges against two Canadian Coast Guard employees have been dismissed.
Senior managers Brian Stone and Kevin Barnes were accused of using $170,000 of government money to develop high-tech tracking equipment, a type of buoy, called the Pathfinder.
It was alleged the men then sold the device back to the Coast Guard for a profit.
Three years ago, the charges against Stone and Barnes were stayed because it was determined it took too long for the trial to begin. The Appeal Court later ruled that the delays were not beyond the limit, giving the Crown the option to proceed.
But in a statement to VOCM News, Public Prosecutions director Lloyd Strickland says there were complex issues in the case that took “an inordinate amount of time to resolve,” adding it was no longer in the public interest to continue.
He also noted the Coast Guard “has expressed an intent, and certainly has the capacity, to recover any monies that may have been misappropriated.”
Stone and Barnes were first charged almost seven years ago, in May of 2015. The offences were alleged to have occurred between 2008 and 2012, when the two men were working in the St. John’s area.