Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Premier Gordon Campbell refuses to comment on Basi-Virk trial allegations of media manipulation; defence to request cabinet BC Rail files

Premier won't comment on trial claims

By SEAN HOLMAN & BILL TIELEMAN, 24 HOURS

Premier Gordon Campbell was put on the hot seat by both media and the New Democrat opposition yesterday over defence allegations in a B.C. Supreme Court case that his B.C. Liberal government and party had secretly manipulated the media.

But despite intense questioning inside and outside the Legislature, Campbell maintained he will not address the allegations until the trial of ex-government aides David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi on breach of trust charges related to the $1-billion privatization of B.C. Rail is over.

Virk's lawyer Kevin McCullough alleged Monday the B.C. Liberal Party paid David Basi $20,000 to run a "dirty tricks" campaign involving top Campbell advisors that included phony talk-show callers and fake protestors.

One variation of Campbell's repeated response: "I'm not going to talk about any issues that arise out of this court case until such a time as the court case is complete."

Meanwhile in B.C. Supreme Court, McCullough accused Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino of "stonewalling" defence disclosure requests about a deal granting immunity from prosecution to key Crown witness Erik Bornmann.

McCullough told Justice Elizabeth Bennett that repeated defence efforts to obtain information it needs have been blocked.

That brought an objection from the Crown's Janet Winteringham, who said McCullough's allegations amounted to an accusation of "prosecutorial misconduct."

McCullough also served notice that the defence will file a motion on Friday requesting disclosure of all relevant government documents related to the B.C. Rail deal, including confidential cabinet documents and e-mails between ministers and possibly the premier.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill,

I read in the Van Sun that Kieran, Bornmann, and Elmhirst received close to $300,000 from Omnitrax for lobbying the Campbell government.

According to the Lobbyist Registry, the lobbying activities took place from Oct 2002 until Dec 2003.

10 months and $300 Grand? You were right - there is much more to the lobbying racket!

Anonymous said...

The premier saw nothing, his pal Doebell is a sort of a saint, and the nast opposition can wait till he gets things sorted to keep making him look good. That will be a tough job. Question period today was quite a sad affair. The so called leader of the provicne and his AG slipping and sliding

Anonymous said...

The question is: What did the Premier know and when did he know it?

Anonymous said...

What kind of a sick pathetic excuse for a premier sacrifices his "underlings" to satisfy his corporate friends? Whatever happened to looking out for the best interests of the province, the people, the average people who go to work every day and come home to their families hoping praying that their elected leaders are looking out for their best interests not the interests of some corporate meglomaniacs who by virtue of their cheque books steal our assets and make secret deals behind closed doors.

I am ashamed to call this province my home!

Anonymous said...

John, CN was grilled today in front of a Parliamentary Committee, specific reference was made to the poor (to put it mildly) safety record in BC. I wonder what the bc rail trial will tell us about CN and what happened behind the scenes?