Brian Da Costa, who was arrested last month as part of the Project South corruption probe, was granted bail on Wednesday.The Globe and Mail
A man once charged in a drug-trafficking case and accused of having a central role in the police corruption case that swept up eight current and former officers in Toronto has been granted bail.
Brian Da Costa, 43, was granted release during a hearing on Wednesday on $1.5-million bail and a list of conditions that will largely keep him confined to his home and wearing a GPS tracker. The reasons for the decision cannot be released because of a publication ban.
Mr. Da Costa was arrested last month as part of Project South, which resulted in charges against seven Toronto police officers and a retired officer, as well as 19 civilians. The case involved an array of allegations, including a plot to murder a corrections officer, bribes and drug trafficking.
Mr. Da Costa faces some of the most serious allegations among the civilians charged in the case, including working with a police officer to pass along information that was later used in an alleged murder plot.
Police have alleged that Mr. Da Costa worked closely with Toronto Police Constable Timothy Barnhardt. They allege that the two men gave confidential information about a corrections officer to hitmen, who conspired to murder him last summer. The pair are also jointly charged with trafficking in stolen police uniforms, obstruction of justice and public mischief.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
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Mr. Da Costa, who was represented by defence lawyer Craig Bottomley, is being released on the $1.5-million bail plan. Three bail sureties have promised the court that he will be restricted to conditions akin to house arrest. He is also required to surrender his passport and his cellphone and wear a GPS ankle bracelet, and he must stay away from land borders and airports.
A bearded Mr. Da Costa appeared via video link from a Toronto remand centre on Wednesday.
York Regional Police led the Project South investigation and announced the charges nearly a month ago. Deputy Police Chief Ryan Hogan told reporters at the time that Mr. Da Costa was a “key figure” in a “criminal network operating within the Greater Toronto Area with … significant international ties.”
In addition to the alleged murder plot, police also accuse Mr. Da Costa of leading a plan to bribe officers to protect illegal cannabis dispensaries. Police have not said how Mr. Da Costa met Constable Barnhardt.
The Project South investigation has prompted reviews by several Ontario watchdog agencies.
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Ontario’s top police watchdog, Inspector-General of Policing Ryan Teschner, has said his office will hire an outside official to conduct a provincewide review of police corruption and the integrity of police databases.
The province’s privacy commissioner is reviewing alleged privacy breaches, while the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency said it will launch professional-misconduct probes against police officers facing charges and misconduct allegations.
The Globe and Mail last month reported that Mr. Da Costa was set to stand trial for cocaine trafficking three years ago, but the prosecution collapsed in early 2023 when the federal Crown stayed charges without providing a reason in court. The stay followed a defence application that argued the investigation could have violated Mr. Da Costa’s Charter rights.
In that earlier case, Mr. Da Costa was arrested in May, 2019, when Toronto police raided a west-end apartment and found six bricks of cocaine stashed in the oven and $12,640 in cash, according to courtroom audio recordings. He was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of money obtained through crime.
Mr. Da Costa was identified by police as “Target One” in the 2019 investigation, which involved extensive covert surveillance by drug-squad officers.
Court heard then that Toronto police acted after a tip from a confidential source, and that seven unmarked police cars shadowed Mr. Da Costa around town for days in the surveillance campaign.