Thursday, June 07, 2007

Basi-Virk defence disclosure application - full text as filed in BC Supreme Court June 4, 2007

Basi-Virk Defence Disclosure Application filed Monday June 4, 2007 in BC Supreme Court and released on Thursday June 7, 2007

The following is the complete document filed by defence lawyers for David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi as obtained today through the BC Supreme Court registry office.

It is being posted here as a public service to those interested in this important case.

I take responsibility for any inadvertent typographical or spacing errors

- Bill Tieleman

* * * * * * * *


JUN 04, 2007 Court File No. 23299
Vancouver Registry

THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA


BETWEEN:

REGINA
Respondent

AND:

UDHE SINGH (DAVE) BASI, BOBBY SINGH VIRK, ANEAL BASI
Applicants

NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR

PRODUCTION OF RECORDS IN THE POSSESSION OF

THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

TO: George Copley, Q.C. Counsel for the Record Holder, the Province of British Columbia
6th Floor - 1001 Douglas St
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9J7


AND NOTICE TO:

William Berardino, Q.C. Special Prosecutor
Hunter Litigation Chambers
2001 — 1040 W. Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4H1

TAKE NOTICE that an application for records in the possession of the Province of British

Columbia will be brought before Madam Justice Bennett on behalf of the accused persons, Udhe Singh

(Dave) Basi (hereinafter, “Mr. Basi”), Bobby Singh Virk (hereinafter, “Mr. Virk”) and Aneal Basi

(hereinafter, “Mr. A. Basi”). This application is returnable for June 7, 2007 at 10:00 a.m at the

Courthouse located at 800 Smithe Street, Vancouver at which time a date will be fixed for the hearing

of the application. The Applicants are seeking the following Orders:

1. That all records, documents and information, including information in electronic form (collectively, the “Records”) held in any office, storage facility or repository by:

a. Premier Gordon Campbell and the Premier’s Office including the Correspondence Branch and Cabinet Operations, and all other deputies and staff of the Premier’s Office, including but not limited to Martyn Brown, Brenda Eaton, Ken Dobell, Tom Syer, Jay Schlosar, Dave Cunningham, Hazel Mitchell, Sam Marja, Cynthia Haroldsen, Lara Dauphinee and Mike Morton;

b. former Minister of Finance Gary Collins (hereinafter, “Minister Collins), his Office, his deputies, assistants and staff including but not limited to Paul Taylor, David Morhart, Chris Trumpy, Adam Buchanan, Robert Paulizyn and Melanie Hughes;

c. former Minister of Finance Colin Hansen, his Office, his deputies, assistants and staff;

d. current Minister of Finance Carole Taylor, her Office, her deputies and staff;

e. former Minister of Transportation Judith Reid (hereinafter, “Minister Reid”), her Office, her deputies, assistants and staff including but not limited to Dan Doyle and Kathie Miller;

f. current Minister of Transportation Kevin Falcon, his Office, his deputies, assistants and staff;

g. former Solicitor General Rich Coleman (hereinafter, the “Solicitor General”), his Office, his deputies, assistants and staff including but not limited to Tobie Myers;

h. Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Police Services Kevin Begg (hereinafter, the “Assistant Deputy Minister”), his Office and staff;

i. current Solicitor General John Les, his Office, his deputies and staff

j. former Speaker of the House, Claude Richmond (hereinafter, the “Speaker”), his Office, his deputies and staff;

k. current Speaker of the House, Bill Barisoff, his Office, his deputies and staff;

l. Clerk of the House, E. George MacMinn, Q.C., his Office and his staff including but not limited to Ian Izard, Q.C.;

m. former Attorney General Geoff Plant, Q.C., his Office, his deputies and staff;

n. current Attorney General Wally Oppal, Q.C., his Office, his deputies and staff;

o. Crown Counsel Robert Gillen, Q.C. and Geoff Gaul and their respective Offices;

p. the Executive Council and its Offices and staff, including but not limited to Joy Illington;

q. the Offices of all Cabinet Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Province of British Columbia from June 5, 2001 to the present day;

r. all Cabinet and Caucus committees from June 5, 2001 to the present day;

s. all government research, policy and communications offices, including but not limited to the Public Affairs Bureau from June 5, 2001 to the present day;

t. the Crown Corporations Secretariat including but not limited to the Offices of B.C. Rail; and

u. the Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner (collectively, the “Government Offices”),

which relate to:

(i) the divestiture of B.C. Rail Freight Division (hereinafter “B.C. Rail”) and the proposed divestiture of the Robert’s Bank Port Subdivision (hereinafter, “Robert’s Bank”) and the bidding processes related to same, including but not limited to the B.C. Rail Steering Committee and the B.C. Rail Evaluation;

(ii) the selection of, and duties assigned to, Ministerial Assistants and in particular all Records relating to efforts of Ministerial Assistants to influence public opinion through the media with regard to the provincial government or its ministers, policies or initiatives;

(iii) the strategy, policy, and any related decision-making pertaining to the influencing, gauging or monitoring of public opinion through media and other public forums;

(iv) public opinion polling and reports, including by the B.C. Liberal Party, which pertain to public opinion on transportation, finance and budget surplus and deficit issues, and further including but not limited to the divestiture of B.C. Rail and the balancing of the Provincial Government budget;

(v) the provision by the B.C. Liberal Party or the Provincial Government to Provincial Liberal Cabinet Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly and their staff of blackberries, computers, cellular phones or other PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants);

(vi) any communications between Provincial Liberal Cabinet Ministers and Members of the Legislative Assembly and their staff and lobbyists Brian Kieran, Erik Bornman, and Jamie Elmhirst, their companies including but not limited to Pilothouse, Kieran Consulting, Pacific Public Affairs, K&E Consulting and their respective staff

(vii) the acceptance or receipt of any gift or benefit including but not limited to:

(1) Vancouver Canucks tickets or seating in private boxes;

(2) B.C. Lions tickets or seating in private boxes;

(3) the use of any facilities at General Motors Place;

(4) Tickets or admittance to the Cirque de Soleil; and

(5) Famous Players “Big Card”

(viii) the investigation of alleged criminal activities of Minister Collins, Mr. Basi, Mr. Virk, and Mr. A. Basi, including but not limited to:

(1) the proposed and actual interception of private communications within the precincts of Parliament, including communications over the telephone lines (250) 387-3751 and (250) 213-5098;

(2) the search of the Legislature on December 28, 2003;

(3) the issue of whether and to what extent members of the Provincial Government, including Minister Collins were under investigation;

(4) all communications pertaining to the timing of R.C.M.P. interviews of Members of the Legislative Assembly and Cabinet Ministers, including Ministers Collins and Reid; and

(5) all communications pertaining to the issue of Parliamentary and Cabinet privilege in respect of R.C.M.P. interviews of Members of the Legislative Assembly and Cabinet Ministers, including Ministers Collins and Reid

be produced to this Honourable Court;

2. That such portions of any of the Records held by the Government Offices in relation to any of the above-noted matters be produced to the Applicants.

THE GROUNDS FOR THE APPLICATION ARE:

1. The Applicants are charged on a multi-count Direct Indictment principally alleging fraud and breach of trust offences in respect of the provincial government’s divestiture of B.C. Rail and Robert’s Bank, including the cancellation of the latter.

2. The divestiture of B.C. Rail and the Robert’s Bank was a complex and highly political process, which involved and affected many Ministers, Agencies, and Departments of the Provincial Government.

3. On December 28, 2003 the R.C.M.P. with the assistance of the Victoria Police Department, executed Search Warrants at the Legislature, and specifically, upon the offices of Ministerial Assistants Messrs. Basi and Virk.

4. Documents and materials were removed from the offices of Messrs. Basi and Virk and from no other offices or locations in the Provincial Legislature.

5. There was considerable strategic discussion and planning by the R.C.M.P. in the preparation, application and execution of the Search Warrants. The R.C.M.P. consulted and liaised with the Solicitor General and his Assistant Deputy Minister before and during the execution of same.

6. The involvement of the Solicitor General and Assistant Deputy Minister in the criminal investigation continued after the search of the Legislature and until at least February 13, 2004, and this involvement consisted of collaboration with, and direction to, the R.C.M.P. with regard to the timing and content of the R.C.M.P. interviews of Ministers Collins and Reid.

7. The Applicants believe that the Search Warrant application procedure lacked transparency and that the R.C.M.P. deceived the Authorizing Judge with respect to, inter alia, the procedures and protocols that needed to be followed in order to enter the precincts of Parliament, including obtaining the informed consent of the Speaker.

8. The Applicants believe that the Government Offices contain records of likely relevance to material issues in this matter, which would be relevant to the cross-examination of key witnesses with regard both to the credibility of these witnesses and the potential identification of evidence to be tested by the Applicants at trial.

9. The Applicants require access to information contained in the Records held by the Government Offices in order to make full answer and defence to the charges against them pursuant to s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (hereinafter, the “Charter”).

10. The Applicants similarly require access to these Records in order to apply to set aside the Search Warrants and Authorizations to Intercept Private Communications on the basis of a breach of s. 8 of the Charter, and in order to apply for a stay of proceedings pursuant to ss. 7 and 24(1) of the Charter on the basis that, inter a/ia, the involvement by the Solicitor General and Assistant Deputy Minister in the search of the Legislature and criminal investigation of the Applicants, and the media relations campaign of the R.C.M.P. constituted an abuse of process.

11. Such further and other grounds as counsel may advise and this Honourable Court may permit.

IN SUPPORT OF THIS APPLICATION THE APPLICANT RELIES UPON:

1. This Notice of Application; and

2. Such further and other materials as Counsel may advise and this Honourable Court may permit.

THE RELIEF SOUGHT IS:

1. An Order that all Records held by the Government Offices be produced to this Honourable Court for review pursuant to the procedure set out in R. v. O’Connor (1995) 4 S.C.R. 411 (S.C.C.) (hereinafter, “O’Connor”).

2. An Order that such portions of the Records held by the Government Offices as this Honourable Court may find likely relevant to an issue at trial.





Names and Addresses of Counsel:

P. Michael Bolton, Q.C
Claire Hatcher
Bolton & Muldoon
Banisters & Solicitors
360- 1122 Mainland Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 5L1
Tel. 604 687-7078; Fax 604 687-3022


Kevin McCullough
Kristy Sim
McCullough Blazina Dieno
Banisters & Solicitors
2~ Floor, 1011 Fort St.
Victoria, B.C. V8V 3K5
Tel. 250-480-1529; Fax 250-480-4910


Joseph Doyle
Johnson Doricic Doyle
Banisters & Solicitors
2nd Floor, 195 Alexander St.
Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1B8
Tel 604 688-8338; Fax 604 688-8356

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well Bill, that covers quite a gang of people. wonder how much will stick dl

BC Mary said...

.
Bill,

Many, many thanks for letting me share this on my blog.

Do you really think the Defence will get everything they've asked for?

I keep worrying that the delay caused by bringing forth all these documents might contribute to a Charter Rights complaint that the trial is taking too long.

But maybe the fact that the defence itself is asking for this, mean that they can't complain?

Cripes, we'll all be OLD by the time this trial is finished.

.

Anonymous said...

Mary, on the one hand you complain that you want the case to be heard because the public interest demands it, on the other hand you complain that its taking so long because of the delays. What you need to do is pick up the phone and call the not to be found special prosecutor and ask him to start justifying his $450 per hour rate and release the documents "FORTHWITH". If you could do that Mary you would be doing a tremendous service to all of us who are intereted in knowing the truth. You may also want to then put in a call to Sgt. Debruyckere and ask him to start disclosing all of the "NOT FOR DISCLOSURE" documents that he has hidden in the rcmp building somewhere in Vancouver. If you can't find debruyckere at the rcmp offices in Vancouver you can probably find him at the bc liberal offices in downtown Vancouver. If you can put pressure on these people and get the documents released then we can get on with it!

Anonymous said...

This is from The Tyee in May 2005. Maybe some of those documents now requested will answer what Richard couldn't at the time about the chairman of CN.

There is no evidence that McLean used his access to influence the deal. And as far as CN is concerned, he had nothing to do with it. Nor did he receive any kind of special compensation when the deal went through, according to Halman. Halman also stressed that CN saw increases in earning long before the two new rails were brought on line.

For that matter, it’s not even clear whether Campbell and McLean ever spoke about BC Rail. Officials with the Campbell campaign didn’t get back to The Tyee with an answer and McLean didn’t return three calls to his McLean Group office for comment on this article.

Unanswered question

When Joy MacPhail was NDP leader, during a debate in the Legislature in 2003, she did ask Campbell whether he and McLean had met about the BC Rail deal.

“Since the Premier has been Premier, has he met with [then CN CEO] Paul Tellier and/or David McLean where they discussed the sale of B.C. Rail?” McPhail asked.

“I can't recall,” Campbell answered, “but if the member opposite would like me to discover when I've met with either of those gentlemen, I'm glad to do that.”

Campbell never did answer the question, according to Clay Suddaby the director of communications and research for the NDP campaign, and it remains unanswered to this day.

But regardless of whether the two met about BC Rail, the fact remains that McLean, a friend and fundraiser to the Premier, is at the head of the company involved in a deal highly controversial from the day it was inked right through the current election campaign – a deal that CN is proud to say they’ve done very well from.

Anonymous said...

Reading this current application raises some interesting questions.

Why be so specific when it comes to the gifts/benefits? Why not leave it open ended? What do the Defense know?

Why name names? Again, what do the Defense know about these people?

We know that Famous Players was a client of Kieran, Bornmann, and Elmhirst. Were benefits offered during those activities to staff and MLAs? Again, what do the Defense know?

What supporting evidence will the defence file to support the disclosure of these documents? What more surprises are in store from the Defense?

I know one thing - this application could change the world of BC lobbying forever.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this.

I would like to see what information results from the following order. Will we get to see documents from Martyn Brown telling his ministerial assistants to tear people a new one?

By the way, sub-section 1.l was incorrectly typed in as 1.1. I know, they both look like L's.

1. That all records, documents and information, including information in electronic form (collectively, the “Records”) held in any office, storage facility or repository by:

a. Premier Gordon Campbell and the Premier’s Office including the Correspondence Branch and Cabinet Operations, and all other deputies and staff of the Premier’s Office, including but not limited to Martyn Brown, Brenda Eaton, Ken Dobell, Tom Syer, Jay Schlosar, Dave Cunningham, Hazel Mitchell, Sam Marja, Cynthia Haroldsen, Lara Dauphinee and Mike Morton;

which relate to:

(ii) the selection of, and duties assigned to, Ministerial Assistants and in particular all Records relating to efforts of Ministerial Assistants to influence public opinion through the media with regard to the provincial government or its ministers, policies or initiatives;

Anonymous said...

Bill I think its time for another rcmp press conference that talks about the "cancer of organized crime" but this time the cancer is within the rcmp itself (please see Arar, Pension Scandal, Ian Bush murder etc. etc.) Maybe the rcmp could hire Kieran and Co. as their consultants to help them fix this image problem they seem to be having. Now that would be something to see, corrupt lobbyists advising corrupt cops!! What I take from the judges decision is the fact she totally dismissed all the affidavits the rcmp submitted in their attempt to discredit what the defence lawyers were saying. Not a good sign if you are an rcmp officer working on this case! The other thing I noticed was how the judge was very troubled (to put it mildly) by the debruyckere conflict and the links to the bc liberals. Just when you think you have seen it all we get hit with something else. My reading of the defence submission suggests they know something.

Anonymous said...

jj wrote: "The other thing I noticed was how the judge was very troubled (to put it mildly) by the debruyckere conflict and the links to the bc liberals."

Bill: Now that we have seen this blatant conflict of interest aired, what about OTHER possible files that the RCMP Commercial Crime are handing that involve the BC Libs & their pals? What faith can anyone have that those files have not been politically tainted?