Kamloops lawyer charged in human remains case being sued by bank

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Kamloops lawyer Rogelio Butch Bagabuyo, who has been charged with interference with human remains in connection with an ongoing homicide investigation, is being sued by the Bank of Nova Scotia.

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The bank, known in its marketing as Scotiabank, is also suing Bagabuyo’s law firm, Bagabuyo & Company Law Corporation, which was operating out of 335 Victoria St. in downtown Kamloops, but which is now closed.

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The bank’s lawsuit alleges that as of Jan. 4, Bagabuyo and his law firm owe $15,506.11 on a Scotialine for Business Visa credit card and that, as of Jan. 18, Bagabuyo and his law firm owe $3,269.93 on a ScotiaGold Passport for Business Visa credit card.

The Bank of Nova Scotia, through its lawyer Jack Goodman of the Vancouver law firm Goodman & Griffin, allege “the defendants have failed, refused or neglected to pay” the amounts owing on the two credit cards. The bank is seeking a court judgment against the defendants in the amount owed on the cards.

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Bagabuyo and the Bagabuyo & Company Law Corporation had 21 days to respond to the civil claim, which was filed in the Vancouver registry of BC Supreme Court on Feb. 7. None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court.

On March 17, 2022, the remains of Thompson Rivers University instructor Mohd Abdullah, 60, were found in a vehicle outside a Monterey Place home in Dufferin. The next day, Bagabuyo, 54 years of age at the time, was arrested and charged with interference with a dead body. Abdullah went missing on March 11 and his death has been confirmed by police to have been a homicide.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for May 30. Bagabuyo has been elected to stand trial by judge alone, a trial that is tentatively scheduled to begin in July. Bagabuyo remains free on bail, with a number of conditions, including that he surrendered his passport.

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For several days following his arrest, police had a presence at Bagabuyo’s Victoria Street law office and at his Columbia Street home following his arrest.

Kamloops RCMP continues to investigate Abdullah’s murder and has yet to charge anyone with that crime.

The police have called the investigation complex due to the fact a practicing lawyer has been charged in connection with the offense, which required hiring a judicial referee to oversee the process of police searching Bagabuyo’s practice for material relevant to the investigation.

Bagabuyo was Abdullah’s lawyer and friend, according to Abdullah’s daughter, 27-year-old Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, who lives in the Philippines. Lalata-Buco told KTW last year that her father would often talk about Bagabuyo when Abdullah visited her in the Philippines, and even sought Bagabuyo’s advice about her potentially immigrating to Canada about five years ago.

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