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The BC Rail Scandal
by Robin Mathews
 The NDP has organized and analysed the materials Justice critic Leonard Krog, MLA, requested from Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett. When he could get no answers from cabinet members or from Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel concerning the shift in disclosure protocol made unilaterally by Gordon Campbell in May of 2007, Krog sought help from the court.
On March 10, 2008, Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett ordered release of "the affidavits [six of them] filed by the government on the application for disclosure of documents seized by way of the execution of the search warrants of the Legislature."
The NDP Affidavits - Gordon Campbell, Ken Dobell, and Delay in Disclosure of Evidence in the Basi, Virk, and Basi Case - The B.C. Rail Scandal
The NDP has made important comments about the involvement of
Gordon Campbell's office in the disclosure decisions, quoting Campbell
to the effect that neither he nor his office has been in any way
involved. The NDP points to the involvement of Campbell's chief and
closest aide, Ken Dobell. The NDP points to evidence that counsel for
cabinet, George Copley, sought the advice of Dobell. And more.
The
NDP, in the legislature, subsequently, freshly separated the trial of
Basi, Virk, and Basi from the actions of the Gordon Campbell cabinet in
the corrupt sale of BC Rail. (If the sale, indeed, was carried out.
BC
Mary asks pointedly what evidence exists that a sale was completed, and
she asks where the evidence is that a billion dollars was received for
the Rail and where the amount is recorded. BC Rail has been alienated
from its legitimate owners - the people of B.C. Has it been "sold"?)
In
separating those two portions of the BC Rail Scandal the NDP has begun
to put long overdue pressure on the legislature to open wide
examination of the dubious (and perhaps criminal?) actions of the
Gordon Campbell cabinet in the alienation of BC Rail from its
legitimate owners: the people of B.C.
Wally Oppal, Attorney
General, answering questions directed at Gordon Campbell, looks
disingenuous and even deliberately uncooperative. His repeated claim
that the Basi, Virk, and Basi charges, moving towards trial, place the
whole BC Rail transaction and all cabinet actions involved sub judice
(outside possible discussion and action outside the court) is hollow
nonsense.
More will, doubtless, be argued and revealed as the NDP makes headway.
So
far the NDP has trained its sights on Gordon Campbell and the premier's
office. But other important information is revealed in the affidavits
that should not be overlooked or forgotten.
As early as 2004 the
Special Crown Prosecutor William Berardino and George Copley, counsel
for the cabinet, and even, apparently, Associate Chief Justice Patrick
Dohm were aware of, and seemed openly or tacitly to agree not to draw
attention to RCMP delay.
In addition, the affidavits seem to
suggest that much preliminary planning for the legislature "raids" was
undertaken consciously to avoid recorded evidence. That is to say, when
RCMP officers made contact on the matter with cabinet or high civil
servants, communication, often, may have been, intentionally, only
verbal, and no clear records appear to have been kept of the
communications.
The questions opened by the unilateral change of
protocol by Gordon Campbell must be answered. On May 28, 2007 Campbell
said in the legislature: "In terms of the screening of cabinet
documents, all those documents will be available to the Deputy Attorney
General. He will make the decision vis-à-vis cabinet confidentiality or
any of those issues in consultation with the special prosecutor."
Seckel does not seem to have acted in that capacity until August of
2007.
Why did Allan Seckel brush aside
the questions of Leonard Krog and direct him to the affidavits? As the
chief politician in B.C., Gordon Campbell could not change the protocol
for any other than highly political reasons - by the nature of his
office - unless he gave a full and complete and convincing public
explanation for the change. He has said nothing.
Indeed, if such
a change was fairly warranted, the person to make it, I suggest, would
be the "highest law officer of the Crown", Attorney General Wally
Oppal, girding himself round and showing absolute legal (not political)
motivation by publishing a document explaining the reasons for the move
from the old protocol and setting out a rigid and politics-proof
protocol that could not be questioned as to its integrity. He did not,
of course, do that.
As I have written before, the action by
Gordon Campbell transforms Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel into a
highly political instrument of the cabinet. His work as screener of
cabinet documents can only - I allege - be seen as political work.
Thus, I allege Gordon Campbell has entered the Basi, Virk, and Basi
case and has transformed it into a political arena.
The cabinet
(through Wally Oppal) says that the legislature cannot discuss the BC
Rail Scandal because the legislature cannot be seen to enter the
activities of the court in the Basi, Virk, and Basi case. While saying
that, the cabinet, I allege, has entered the activities of the court.
It has placed a personal appointee of the premier (with what verbal
orders we cannot know, and - incidentally - without a publicly written
document to define unequivocally his duties) in charge of deciding what
cabinet documents may be released to the Defence.
Finally, the
RCMP is identified as delaying matters as early as 2004. Since then,
the RCMP, it has been alleged by Defence, has delayed and delayed in
matters of clean and full disclosure of materials.
I have pointed to
what I believe is the painful and continuing failure of Madam Justice
Elizabeth Bennett to order - and to give teeth to the order - that the
RCMP disclose promptly, in an organized and meaningful way.
In
Canada today some members of the RCMP are under suspicion of a large
number of unacceptable (when not criminal) activities. That background
only complicates interpretation of the unsatisfactory role of the RCMP
in the BC Rail Scandal.
Eventually, I believe, the NDP in the
legislature is going to have to come to grips with that, mostly silent,
but hugely important matter. If a Public Inquiry into the BC Rail
Scandal is finally undertaken, the role of some members of the RCMP is
going to have to face close investigation and scrutiny. What has been
their role in relation to cabinet members and high civil servants? What
has their role been in relation to the Special Crown Prosecutor, to
judges of the B.C. Supreme Court?
The materials released by
Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett in answer to Leonard Krog's request
flood light onto the behaviour of political actors in the B.C Rail
Scandal. But they open as many questions as they answer.
One of
those questions has haunted all the proceedings: How much more would
the people of B.C. know about the BC Rail Scandal if documents on
public record kept in the care of the court, arising out of the
legislature raids, were regularly made available for public scrutiny?
Are the Patrick Dohm protocols denying access to documents on public
record (allegedly) created to protect the innocent in fact serving to
protect the guilty?
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On the other hand, the silence of the mainstream media has been disturbing. Sometimes even when their reporters attend, nothing is reported on the Supreme Court hearings.
The Legislature Raids was set up to try to fill that gap, either by creating or gathering in articles on the most important trial in B.C. history. We feel very lucky when original work comes in from Robin Mathews.
My blog has just passed its 2nd anniversary ... we're still waiting for the actual trial to begin ... but still finding issues related to BCR and the raid on the Legislature.
Thanks for linking us up. Hope you'll drop by sometime.
Best wishes.
BC Mary
The Legislature Raids
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/