TORONTO - The fraud case against the two theatre impresarios behind hits such as "Phantom of the Opera" is based on the testimony of perjurers and peppered by "glaring omissions" that fail to prove the Crown's allegations, court heard Thursday.
"I'm astounded in this case, among many other things, that they never called an expert," said Eddie Greenspan, lawyer for Garth Drabinsky -- who with partner Myron Gottlieb founded Livent.
Instead, Greenspan said, the prosecution relied on "perjurers" and "admitted accomplices" -- former employees who pleaded guilty to various offences and testified against Drabinsky and Gottlieb.
"There's palpable evidence of collusion, improper tainting of the evidence, which must be assessed," he said.
Brian Greenspan, Gottlieb's lawyer, told the judge-alone trial that the evidence "just doesn't support the kind of broad allegations that the Crown makes."
Drabinsky and Gottlieb have both pleaded not guilty to fraud and forgery. They are accused of bilking investors and banks out of as much as $500 million by fraudulently misstating Livent's value.
Prosecutors have argued that a defence theory that Drabinsky and Gottlieb were somehow victims of an intricate conspiracy to frame them is simply absurd.
Livent went bust in 1998 when a new American management team, headed by Hollywood magnate Michael Ovitz, brought in auditors to examine the company's finances and senior executives blew the whistle.
