James, Ed “Hap” Tovrea and Jason Hu. Partners in the Sulfer Venture through MECA Corp.
Chinese dignitaries meeting. All business government owned at that time, 1989.
Contract Proves To Be Legitimate
The State has maintained the contract and the subsequent trip to China was part of the “plan” to explain Harrod’s and Tovrea’s relationship. They maintained it was an elaborate ruse to transfer funds from Tovrea to Harrod to pay for the killing. They even went as far as to say there was NO business at all.
Actually Harrod had been to China prior to ever meeting Tovrea, doing exactly the same thing, helping companies to establish contacts to do business in China.
The “contract” in question was not a cover for a crime unless the other party to the contract, Hu’s Investment, would be included in the “plan”.
Also the Board of Directors of M.E.C.A. Corporation would be included as the contract was signed by the corporation’s president in the name of the company. Also, Shearson, Leman & Hutton would have to be included as co-defendant’s as they penned a letter of intent to fund projects in China with M.E.C.A. Corporation.
Funds were in fact paid to Harrod and Hu as agreed upon by all parties and provided for in the contract!
Papers Prove Legitimate Business
The paper work presented was not presented to the Jury that sat on Harrod’s trial and decided his fate.
Why not?
The papers prove that there was a legitimate business, contrary to what the prosecution alleged in order to obtain their conviction on an innocent man.
Click to view: Meeting Record Consulting Agreement Basic Facts about Sulphur Mine
Phone Calls Raise Questions Not Answers
In keeping with the prosecution’s theory, they claimed all the phone calls between Harrod and Tovrea were to plan and organize the murder, and the phone calls continued for years after the murder to cover themselves.
The one point that sticks out is, had the phone calls been used to plan a murder it would be a federal offense, no federal charges were ever filed, in fact Ed Tovrea to this day is a free man and no charges have ever been filed against him!