Arthur Porter complains to UN over illegal Panama detention

The former boss of the of McGill University's mega hospital and a onetime head of Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee is enlisting the United Nations to avoid facing a raft of finance-related charges.

Arthur Porter is languishing in a Panamanian jail, fighting extradition to Canada on charges that range from conspiracy to commit fraud and taking kickbacks to money laundering.

Porter, a native of Sierra Leone who lives in Nassau, Bahamas, was arrested in Panama City last May along with his wife on an Interpol warrant as they were travelling to Trinidad and Tobago.

Porter and his wife, Pamela, are wanted in Canada over allegations they siphoned $22 million from the $1.3-billion project to expand Montreal's McGill University Health Centre.

Pamela Porter was extradited to Canada in June and released on bail in August with strict conditions.

[ Related: Wife of former MUHC head Arthur Porter released on bail ]

But Arthur Porter, who owns a cancer clinic in Nassau, has been resisting extradition. This week he filed a complaint with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, alleging he's being held illegally and mistreated in Panamanian custody, the National Post reports.

Porter diagnosed himself with stage-four lung cancer last year, saying he was too ill to travel to Canada to answer the allegations against him. His arrest in transit last spring came as something of a surprise.

His Panamanian lawyer, Ricardo Bilonick Paredes, told the Post he's had no medical attention since his arrest.

"He hasn't even had an aspirin," Bilonick Paredes said. "If he dies, there's no point in extradition."

Bilonick Paredes said Porter has been treating himself with chemotherapy drugs that he had with him when he was arrested but has had no tests to check the status of his illness.

“He was supposed to be evaluated the week after his arrest," the lawyer told the Post.

"I have asked again and again but I have had no response. It is for that reason that we filed a report to the United Nations."

[ Related: Former McGill hospital boss Arthur Porter arrested in Panama, awaiting extradition to Canada ]

Porter's doctor apparently did stop by the prison but it was more of a social call.

“I got the doctor in just to say hello and to ask him how he feels," Bilonick Paredes said. "I see him three times a week but I’m not a doctor. His doctor was not able to give Porter any tests in a medical centre."

The Toronto Star reported Porter's complaint to the UN argues that Panama has no grounds to hold him.

“To date, 60 days have passed and Mr. Porter is still detained illegally,” reads the complaint, according to the Star.

The complaint, dated July 30, also argues the length of time is unreasonable under Panamanian law and that his detention is politically motivated due to his high profile, the Star reported.

The complaint also challenges the extradition of Pamela Porter, saying it did not comply "with the formalities required by the law" and took place over her objections.

Arthur Porter has also contended the Interpol warrant, issued at Canada's request, was not valid because he was travelling on diplomatic business for Sierra Leone, his homeland, the Star said.

However, the African country's Canadian consul told the Star last June that there was no evidence to back Porter's claim he had diplomatic status.

Porter was once a high flyer in Canada.

Besides heading the McGill health centre, he moved in Conservative party circles and Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed him to the watchdog committee overseeing the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He was later promoted to be its chairman.

He resigned from the position in 2011 after news reports revealed his involvement with Montreal-based former arms dealier Ari Ben-Menashe in $120-million Russian-financed plan to fund infrastructure development in Sierra Leone. His position as a special adviser to the country's president also was seen as a conflict of interest.

[ Related: Arthur Porter makes human rights complaint to UN ]

Things unraveled further as Quebec anti-corruption investigators alleged Porter was part of a scheme of financial wrongdoing involving executives of SNC-Lavalin, the prime contractor on the McGill health centre project.

Porter, who left Canada in 2011, is also being sued by McGill, which claims he failed to repay most of a $500,000 loan received from the university.