By STEVE ECKARDT

PHILADELPHIA (CP) - The long-running case of Canadian businessman James Sabzali, charged with violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba, came to a quiet close Friday as he received a year's probation in exchange for pleading guilty to a single charge of "smuggling" several thousand dollars worth of supplies destined for the island.

He was also fined $10,000 US.

Sabzali had been charged with 75 counts of violating the 1917 U.S. Trading with the Enemy Act and a single count of conspiracy for sales of nearly $3 million worth of water-purification supplies to Cuba. He faced a possible life sentence and a fine of over $19 million.

Sabzali's conviction on the single charge of smuggling references his importation of goods in violation of U.S. law: in this case, re-export to Cuba by a U.S. business, Bro-Tech, with which he was working. Prosecutors allowed the 45-year-old Canadian, a Philadelphia-area resident since 1996, to plead guilty to this new offence to avoid the automatic deportation required by all of the original charges.

"Right now, I feel great," said Sabzali.

"It's nice to get this chapter over with and move on with my life."

But while Sabzali called the agreement a "victory," the settlement may have kept alive the case's most contentious issue: Washington's asserted right to enforce U.S. law beyond its borders.

The original 76 charges - 32 of which were for sales made while Sabzali was living and working in Canada - brought a wave of objections about U.S. "extraterritorial measures" from Canadian editorialists and demonstrators, as well as two diplomatic protest notes from Ottawa.

Friday's settlement has the Canadian salesman admitting guilt for a 1994 transaction that occurred while he lived in Hamilton and was a self-employed Canadian businessman. Sabzali, a native of Trinidad, grew up in St. Catharines, Ont.

Sabzali's conviction via his guilty plea demonstrates "you're not allowed to violate the laws of this country just because you live outside it," said assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Poluka in an interview.

"You need to educate your Canadian audience," he told the Canadian Press.

St. Catharines Member of Parliament Walt Lastewka told the St. Catharines Standard newspaper the complex case highlights the confusion among Canadian businesses over U.S. trade regulations with Cuba.

"(Sabzali) innocently thought that because he was in Canada and a Canadian citizen that certain law doesn't apply but the trade was through his employer," he said.

"The law is confusing. You could read into it two different ways really easily."

Claude Gauthier, who replaced Sabzali as Bro-Tech's Canadian sales manager eight years ago, was also keeping a watchful eye on his friend's legal fight. The Burlington, Ont., resident was previously under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which considered him an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case. Gauthier said he understands why Sabzali agreed to a plea bargain.

"The government's case was weak but you never know what's going to happen," he said.

"When you're dealing with a jury and the current political climate, it's kind of a crap shoot. I'm sure going through that trial was not a pleasant experience."

Sabzali said: "The difference between the 76 counts and the single one we settled on is between possible life in prison and a single year of probation. It's a chasm that speaks volumes about the strength of the government's case."

Poluka disputed that assessment, saying: "It's not a question of numbers. This was a way to settle this case to everyone's satisfaction."

"It's simply a matter of avoiding still lengthier litigation."

Sabzali told the Standard: "You trade away something to get something else, so I end up with a criminal record."

"I don't feel it's justified. I don't think the United States had either jurisdiction or the facts in the case."

But "with the U.S. government breathing down" his neck, Sabzali said he wasn't willing to fight the case again in court.

"The choice is: do you want to go through it again or do you want to get on with life. I chose to get on with life."

Legal proceedings stretched out nearly 3 1/2 years. The investigation began in February 1997.

Sabzali's April 2002 conviction on 21 charges, after a 17-day trial, was overturned by the presiding judge because of "improper and inflammatory arguments made by prosecutors to the jury during closing arguments."

Last June, U.S. federal Justice Mary McLaughlin granted a motion for a retrial for Sabzali, convicted last April for violating the U.S. embargo against Cuba because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In a 31-page ruling, the judge wrote she was very concerned by "inflammatory language...strewn throughout the (prosecutor's closing) argument."

Declaring: "It is never proper to throw around such inflammatory language in a criminal trial," McLaughlin wrote the prosecutor's repeated charges of defence lying served to "stir up the jury" and had "no place in the argument of an assistant United States attorney."

While finding prosecutorial misconduct required she set aside Sabzali's convictions on one count of conspiracy and 20 counts of violating the Trading with the Enemy Act, the judge rejected a defence motion for acquittal, leaving Sabzali under indictment for 76 embargo violations and conspiracy.

Sabzali, who continues to work for Bro-Tech as its North American sales and marketing manager, said he's looking forward to making a trip to St. Catharines in the near future. After more than three years of stringent travel restrictions - including a 14-month period with an electronic monitoring bracelet strapped to his ankle when he could not go more than an hour's drive from his home - Sabzali is once again permitted to travel freely. But before he visits family and friends in Ontario with his wife and two teenaged children, Sabzali said he wants to double-check with immigration officials that there will be no difficulties at the border.

"I know I can leave the country and go anywhere. I just want to make sure I have no hassles getting back into the country," he said.