Conrad Black leaves prison and steps into controversy over move to Canada

Politicians question 'special treatment' for former media tycoon – and British citizen – who left Canada behind in 2001
conrad black release
After his release from a prison, Conrad Black was transported to a US immigration center. Photograph: Gaston De Cardinas/Reuters

If the fallen media tycoon Conrad Black had hoped for a low-key end to the total of 37 months he has spent in a US prison, then he will have been disappointed. He emerged from a Florida jail at 8am and immediately stepped into a firestorm of controversy.

Having completed the final eight months of his sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice, the former owner of the British Daily Telegraph newspaper, Chicago Sun-Times and Jerusalem Post was taken into the custody of US immigration services. Lacking resident status in America, he will be shepherded by US immigration and customs enforcement to the Canadian border and will probably never be allowed to return.

In Canada, Black's reappearance in the country in which he was born in 1944 triggered a dispute that rose to the top of the political system. Tom Mulcair, leader of the opposition NDP, accused the Conservative government of double standards in its treatment of "the British criminal Conrad Black" by allowing him to come back despite the fact that he is no longer a Canadian.

Conrad Black
Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

In 2001 Black renounced citizenship of his native home in exchange for the seductions of the British House of Lords. Lord Black of Crossharbour then rubbed salt into Canadian wounds by saying he was pleased to be leaving behind a country in decline.

From Mulcair's point of view, that made the decision of Stephen Harper's government to grant Black a temporary one-year residency all the more galling. "Conrad Black is a British citizen. He was convicted of serious crimes in the US. Why is he being given special treatment?" he asked.

Richard Siklos, author of the biography Shades of Black, said it would not have been Black's desire to be yet again in the centre of a political storm. "I'm certain he wants to move on and this controversy is the last thing he would have wanted."

Siklos had lunch with the former head of Hollinger in New York last year while he was temporarily out of prison. He says he found the fallen tycoon "quieter than the man I recalled. He seemed like a guy who has been through a lot, who has lost a decade of his life to all this."

The furor around Black's return has divided every level of Canadian life, from political leadership to ordinary voter. The letters pages of the national paper the Globe and Mail have carried conflicting commentary.

"Canada's only real hero should be celebrated, not pilloried," wrote Marty Cutler. "Conrad Black is the epitome of tenacity and true grit. Get out the brass band, not the brass knuckles."

On the other side of the debate, Paul Hanson wrote: "In 2001, Canada wasn't good enough for Conrad Black. In 2012, Conrad Black isn't good enough for Canada."

Black will probably rejoin his wife, Barbara Amiel, in their spacious house in Toronto's Bridle Path. He is unlikely to be able to regain, even should he wish to, his famously lavish lifestyle that included palatial homes around the world, travel in private jets and extravagant parties.

Financial problems will continue to dog him as persistently as controversy does. The US tax department has an outstanding claim on $70m in unpaid dues.

British customs and excise could also pursue him as he remains a UK citizen and full member of the House of Lords.

Siklos sees Black as strong enough a character to withstand the challenges ahead. "Over the past three years he's shown an unbelievable fortitude. The future looks challenging, certainly, but compared with what he's already been through the worst is now behind him."