Robert Gillen, the Assistant Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Justice Branch, has referred an NDP request for appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the disappearance and possible destruction of cabinet emails related to BC Rail to the RCMP.
NDP MLA Leonard Krog, who yesterday sent Gillen letter asking him to consider appointing a Special Prosecutor, said today he has received a reply indicating the matter has been referred to Chief Superintendent Dick Bent of the RCMP.
In a letter to Krog dated July 16, 2009 - the same day the request from Krog was received - Gillen says allegations of possible obstruction of justice in the destruction of government emails have been sent to Bent.
"Consideration to the appointment of a Special Prosecutor would only take place if the police determine that an investigation should take place and request the assistance of a prosecutor for the purposes of seeking legal advice during the investigation or alternatively, the police at the end of the investigation forward a Report to Crown Counsel in which a charging decision is requested," Gillen wrote, with a copy to Bent.
Krog says he appreciates the letter.
"I'm pleased to have that quick a response from the Assistant Deputy Attorney General. I have a lot of respect for Robert Gillen," he said in an interview Friday afternoon.
"Once the RCMP start an investigation - if they proceed - they'll want to quickly turn to a Special Prosecutor," Krog said.
In British Columbia, Special Prosecutors are regularly assigned to investigation of criminal matters where political figures or issues arise in order to preserve the independence of the case.
Krog said the events of the past week, when it was learned that back up tapes of emails from cabinet ministers regarding the $1 billion sale of BC Rail in 2003 allegedly may have been ordered destroyed in early May despite the ongoing criminal case, have been astonishing.
"This is a remarkable turn of events and the comparisons to Watergate are warranted," he said.
"It now behooves the government to tell us who gave the order to destroy the backup tapes, when and why," Krog said.
On Monday at 9 a.m., BC Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett will rule on a defence application to have the email backup tapes designated as "likely relevant", a decision that would then allow them to demand production of the tapes.
To date it is unclear whether EDS Advanced Solutions - the contractor who was sent the tapes for deletion - actually destroyed them or not.
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16 comments:
This event shows some promise. Rember Ollie North who thought he was destroying a bunch of stuff in the Contra deal only to find out it was recoverable. Unless they drove a tractor over the hard drives, some of the stuff should be still available. THis could get interesting
Don't weez haz enuff a doze dere spe-shell proz a cuterz aredy!dam youz guyz makin me rite agin!
DPL--
I agree.
Providing, of course, Mdme Justice Bennett rules that they are relevant on Monday.
If not.....
Well?
Which brings up another point....
What if, on or about, say, May 7th, the dead-heating of the polls might have provided an impetus/motive for some person (or persons) to order the disappearing of any and all 'problematic' correpondence, not so much because they were worried about the emergence of the corresponence in court but instead because of fears of what might have come out if a then still potentially victorious NDP was to call for a public inquiry?
This demonstrates why we need a judicial system independent of politicians.
We are asking for the RCMP to investigate the BC Government for possible crimes at the same time that the Braidwood Inquiry, on behalf of the BC Government, is conducting an investigation of the RCMP into possible crimes related to the Dziekanski's death. In addition to the initial difficulties, both situations may include crimes by obstruction of justice.
Is not conflict of interest obvious to all?
You would be better to buy a ticket to Neverland and spend time with Michael Jackson's ghost . . . since this RCMP "referal" has as much substance as Wacko-Jacko's nose.
The solutions are no longer in the system, like England of 1649 . . . the only effective answers are with Roundheads & Cold Steel.
The GREAT SATAN
Let me get this straight. The AG sent a letter to Superintendent Dick Bent asking him to look into the matter. Isn't this the same Superintendent Bent who has "no recollection" of the bombshell email that mysteriously surfaced at the Braidwood Inquiry!
Bill, can you please confirm this is the same Superintendent Bent.
If this indeed is the case this is a joke! I ask you, are we to trust Superintendent Bent, take his word after all the debacles that have unfolded within the rcmp?
Lets be clear, this senior rcmp officer has "no recollection" of the bombshell email he sent clearly and unequivocally contradicting sworn testimony under oath, how convenient! After all, tasering an immigrant to death at the Vancouver Airport must be a daily occurence for the rcmp, that would explain the "no recollection" defence! It happens so often we have to forgive the Superintendent for his selective amnesia!
If this is the same Superintendent Bent, the author of the now infamous email who has "no recollection" of that email then we have made this entire BC rail affair into a sick joke. A joke in which the victims are the citizens of BC.
I won't hold my breath waiting for Superintendent Bent. You can be sure of one thing, he won't be putting his thoughts onto email about this matter!
How sad!!
Wouldn’t it just me simpler to ask Rosmarie Hayes who gave the order to have the tapes erased back in May ? why must this be so complicated ? Someone had to give the order. Why has Rosmarie not been asked this question yet ?
Rosemarie Hayes has in fact filed a lengthy affidavit about what happened but we can't see it!
Reaside is right onto the Government problem today (Saturday). Go check his site. Beacse of copyright reasons I sure am not about to cpy his stuff to any website as he mentions he has a ton of lawyers just waiting for some action. His stuff is usully worth checking from time to time
We can't see it ? That seems crazy. In other words the statement likely tells who gave her the order to destroy the tapes back in May and we peons are not worthy to know who that person is.
This makes no sense. But thx for the update at least Bill.
Heckfire Anon-Above, there were a whole lot of affidavits filed by all kinds of 'persons of interest', as noted by Mr. T. at the time, that we cannot see.
.
We know the RCMP has never taken responsibility for Dziekanski's death or cooperated unconditionally with Braidwood. Nor have they apologized for the Polish man's death or for sending six investigators to Europe in what seems a grotesque campaign of defamation.
If we follow the trail of crumbs to find the guiding hands in this matter, it leads at least to Supt. Wayne Rideout and C/Supt. Dick Bent, perhaps beyond. Dick Bent argued at the beginning that the RCMP should not participate in the Braidwood Inquiry by claiming a jurisdictional excuse.
Prior to the opening of final submissions, the Inquiry was given Dick Bent's 18-month-old letter and it cast doubt on testimony of RCMP members. So now Thomas Braidwood and staff are reviewing thousands of additional pages, presumably combing the police files for more conflicting information.
In effect, the Braidwood Commission is investigating the RCMP on behalf of the Province of BC. Now, the Attorney General's office asks Chief Sup't Bent to consider an RCMP investigation of BC Government officials.
Smith investigates Jones while Jones investigates Smith. If they were alive, Gilbert and Sullivan would be writing a song. The conflict of interest is beyond ridiculous.
Now I have to find some tissue before I ruin my computer from the tears of laughter that came upon me when I learned that the RCMP were going to be looking into these missing emails. The RCMP are the reason this rail thing is such a mess.
Dickie bird and his merry morons couldn't find their asses with both hands.
If we had a real democracy like say--- Honduras we could call in the army to put these bums along with the RCMP in jail or give them a one way ticket out of the country??
CGHZD
It seems to me that it is time for Justice Bennett to find the government and/or the individuals responsible for the non disclosure in contempt of court. This case has been delayed for a number of years at least in part because of either slow disclosure or non disclosure.
We saw the government try to stall a high profile court case through non disclosure a few years ago when Carrier Lumber took the province to court for breach of contract over a large timber sale in the Chilcotin. As Supreme Court Justice Parret stated in his decision on the Carrier Lumber case, there were 23 orders for disclosure issued and they were issued because of a failure by the province to disclose relevant documents. There are probably other less well-known cases where this has happened
There appears to be a trend by government to use this tactic to stall potentially politically embarrassing court cases. I am sure that if one or two bureaucrats or politicians went to jail for contempt of court, this tactic would cease to be used immediately.
The Province reports this morning(Monday) that the Judge says the emails and assorted other stuff is relevent. I'm pretty sure Bill will explain all pretty soon
Sorry about that folks. I named the wrong newspaper. It was the Sun( Monday) that I read the story. Wonder just how much of the stuff will actually surface?
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