By Bill Tieleman
The oft-delayed BC Legislature raid case has been once-again postponed.
Charges against former BC government ministerial aides David Basi, Bob Virk and communications staffer Aneal Basi will not likely be heard until late February or early March.
BC Supreme Court defence lawyers and the Special Prosecutor agreed to delay a pre-trial update scheduled with Justice Elizabeth Bennett for today until December 18 at 9 a.m.
That means the previously slated trial start date of December 4 is off.
With pre-trial motions and a voir dire on the admissibility of wiretap evidence and issues of Parliamentary privilege surrounding some evidence, plus the Christmas holiday break, it seems highly unlikely the trial could begin before March 1.
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8 comments:
3 years and counting. Maybe the Crown is waiting for the 999 year lease to expire before starting this case!
Or perhaps after the 2009 election!
Think of it this way. the longer it takes the closer we get too the next election.
Thanks Bill for the quick report. Much appreciated.
Question: was Dave Basi, Bob Virk, or Aneal Basi in the courtroom on 24th Nov? Do they always show up? or never show up?
Anonymous 7:46 PM ... "the longer it takes" the closer we get to seeing another election only in the rear-view mirror.
We've had 3 already (2 federal, 1 provincial) since the Legislature Raids. But I think you're absolutely correct to wonder if there's an electoral factor at work in all this maneuvering.
Thanks for your kind comments Mary.
Neither David Basi, Bob Virk nor Aneal Basi has ever shown up in BC Supreme Court for any of the recent hearings on the defence disclosure application.
I have attended most but not all of the previous court hearings on journalistic applications for information release and have never seen any of the defendants appear.
Given that they all live on Vancouver Island and have no requirement to appear for these hearings, I am not surprised.
Well, in any complex case with huge volumes of evidence, much of it in the form of documents and the like, delay is inevitable. Consider the Pickton case for example.
Still, it's worrisome from a political viewpoint that a case that touches on public policy, privatization, and the conducct of politics at both senior levels of government would be delayed over and over again.
However, given its federal implications, delaying the trial to next Spring could have the happy effect of seriously diminishing the chances of the Federal Liberal party, especially if the now all but certain new leader Michael Ignatieff is seen as coming primarily from the Paul Martin wing of the party.
Glen Clark was charged in Oct 2000 and acquited in Aug of 2002. Start to finish in under 2 years.
Basi and Virk were charged in Dec 2004 and now we are told that this case won't even start until Feb 2007?
There is more to this delay than we are being told.
Something tells me there is more to this story. Who else has Bornmann pointed the finger at? There must be some very nervous people in the senior ranks of the Liberal party of Canada in BC.
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