BC Liberals paid $6 million to the lawyers of their former party insiders Dave Basi and Bobby Virk after the two pleaded guilty to corruption charges. It was seen as a ploy to sweep party corruption undert the rug and sparked public outrage about an indemnity policy that pays legal fees for government employees — but that policy says that it’s only paid if the employees are acquitted.
VANCOUVER — This week, a BC Supreme court judge denied the Auditor General’s request to find out why the corrupt B.C. Liberal government decided to pay $6 million in legal fees for its two former Indo-Canadian ministerial aides and party insiders.
Judge Robert Bauman said in his written decision that Auditor General John Doyle’s request amounted to a sweeping invasion of solicitor-client privilege and dismissed an application for government documents.
Doyle’s application was heard last September in his bid to review the government’s decision to waive legal costs for Dave Basi and Bobby Virk, who were charged with breach of trust and fraud.
They were on trial for allegedly leaking confidential documents in the $1-billion privatization sale of BC Rail in early 2003, leading to an unprecedented police raid at the legislature in December that year, reported CTV news.
But in a surprise move in October 2010 as their trial was about to resume, Basi and Virk pleaded guilty to providing insider information and receiving benefits for the information.
Their pleas came as the Liberal government announced it would pay the men’s legal fees, sparking public outrage about an indemnity policy that pays legal fees for government employees — but only if they’re acquitted.
