Arthur Porter's extradition to Canada imminent

Dr. Arthur Porter is escorted by Panama police officers in this undated image.

Panama has agreed to extradite Arthur Porter to Canada, a source has told CTV Montreal.

But the former director of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), suspected of fraud, could try to delay his extradition, as he has done in the past.

However Porter is believed to have exhausted all of his other legal options and his return to Canada appears inevitable. No date has yet been set and Porter is not expected to return before at least Monday.

One local lawyer thinks that Porter only complicated his situation by fighting his return, as his time served in Panama might not help reduce an eventual possible sentence.

“The Extradition Act does not require the judge to take into consideration the time that you have spent in jail. They usually do but it’s not obligatory, so it could be significantly wasted time,” veteran Montreal lawyer Jeffrey Boro told CTV Montreal.

A negotiated return might have been a better idea, according to Boro.

“Maybe it would have been a good idea to have a lawyer negotiate his return. Obviously his chances for bail would have been greatly enhanced.”

Porter was arrested with his wife at the main airport of Panama in May 2013. While Pamela Porter returned to Canada and faced justice, Porter remained detained in a Panamanian prison.

He successfully managed to challenge his extradition on several occasions.

Porter claims to be suffering from Stage Four lung cancer, a condition that might partially dictate his fate in the courts.

“When a person is very sick and does not have very long to live, if he’s found guilty or pleads guilty, this is certainly a factor that a judge will take into consideration because a five year sentence for somebody with one year to live is a life sentence and all judges know that,” said Boro.