Departing BC Liberal Van Dongen Hires A Lawyer To Expose Cover-Up!
VANCOUVER – Despite large section of the mainstream media to play down and help cover up perhaps the biggest corruption scandal of any provincial government – the BC Liberal insiders corruption scandal and then a $6 million payoff to cover up the whole thing – the scandal is coming back with a vengeance with departing veteran MLA John van Dongen saying Monday that he has hired a lawyer to look into the scandal – known as the BC Rail scandal or Basi-Virk corruption scandal – at his own expense because he believes there are serious unanswered questions.
At the same time – the provincial Auditor ‘General has been looking into the case where the BC Liberal government paid $6-million to cover the legal fees of Dave Basi and Bobby Virk, but he has been met with delay tactics and refusal to hand over documents.
For example, the government can’t provide the bills to the Auditor-General– because it doesn’t have them, court records show.
Legal documents filed in an unusual action, in which the Auditor-General is taking the Attorney-General to court to gain access to government records related to the BC Rail case, say that invoices for Basi and Virk are held by private legal counsel hired to oversee the payments, reported the Globe and Mail newspaper.
“The Auditor General was given access to all documents and information sought regarding the defence costs in the possession of the Legal Services Branch. However … detailed billing information concerning the Basi/Virk indemnities was not in the possession of the Ministry of Attorney General and therefore the Auditor General did not obtain access to that information,” states a petition the Auditor-General has filed with the Supreme Court of B.C.
While call it quits on the BC Liberals because of incompetent leader of Premier Christy Clark – van Dongen, who joined the upstart Conservatives on Monday, took a shot at the BC Rail scandal that has dogged party for almost a decade.
“There are still serious unanswered questions regarding the writing-off of $6 million in legal fees in the BC Rail case contrary to government policy,” van Dongen said, referring to the decision to fund convicted BC Liberal insiders Basi and Virk’s defence in 2010.
In a post-announcement press conference, van Dongen revealed his intention to have the scandal investigated by a private lawyer — at his own expense.
“The legal fees deal itself will never stand up to scrutiny in any way shape or form, and I’ve been asking those questions for a year-and-a-half,” he said.
He did not specify what the lawyer would be doing, or which aspect of the scandal he would focus on.
But the representative for Abbotsford South said he’s been disappointed by the government’s failure to address the controversy, and suggested Clark has unresolved issues with respect to BC Rail that date back to 2002-2003, when she served her stint in Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government, reported Canadian Press.
Basi and Virk pleaded guilty to charges of breach of trust and accepting bribes in connection with the controversial $1 billion deal to privatize the formerly Crown-owned BC Rail in 2003, which saw police officers raid the provincial legislature.
The then Gordon Campbell led BC Liberal government had pledged not to privatize the company two years prior.
The decision to cover the two former aides’ legal fees in October 2010 as part of a plea deal was widely criticized, spurring an independent review of the indemnity policy for government employees. The report determined that the government is obligated to pay the legal costs of its employees only when they are found to be innocent.
Basi and Virk were sentenced to two years each under house arrest.
Attorney-General Shirley Bond said Thursday her government is co-operating fully with the audit, and she indicated the legal dispute between her ministry and the Auditor-General is finished.
But Colleen Rose, a spokesperson for the Auditor-General, said the matter is still being pursued through the courts. She declined to discuss the case, but agreed it is an unusual one.
“This is certainly the first time that I’m aware of that our office has ever, you know, gone to court looking for information in order to complete our work, so it gives you a sense for the rarity of this,” Rose said.
The case is expected to be heard in June, at which time the Auditor-General will be arguing for the authority to examine all relevant material held either by the government or by independent counsel hired by the government to oversee the payments.
Critics have been vocal of the media’s quick exoneration of Clark in the BC Rail case before last year’s leadership race. And one vocal critic of Clark – political blogger Alex Tsakumis wrote this week that the Clark government is so morally bankrupt after this week’s bombshells related to Auditor General seeking documents related to the corruption scandal
“My conversation, albeit very short, with Basi and Virk, on these rumours about their refusal to sign off, prove more than enlightening,” Tsakumis wrote this week.
Virk said nothing, being forever and a day the more reserved and reluctant to say anything at all–beyond confirming that they were historically “fully cooperative” with the courts, but Basi was actually a quite angry at the then contentions of government sources (Cabinet and caucus) of how they were holding up the Auditor General:
“We’ve never held up anybody or anything ever. That’s just not true; we would never do such a thing. We have rights, but always cooperated with everything that has been asked of us and do not want to be disrespectful of anyone particularly the court. Bob and I just want to get on with our lives and be with our families in peace, Alex. That’s all I can say. Thanks for calling,” Tsakumis wrote of his conversation with Basi
