Dustin Darby made a plea deal that allows him to escape one of two first degree murder charges in the murder of an Indo-Canadian gangster Sanjeev Mann.
CALGARY – Dustin Darby, 32, has made a deal that allows him to escape one of two first degree murder charges in the murder of an Indo-Canadian man in Calgary.
Darby was facing one of the charges for the murder of gangster Sanjeev Mann. On Thursday, December 03, Darby pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and to conspiring to kill rival gangster Kevin Bontagon in 2008.
Sanjeev Mann and Aaron Bendle were killed in a shooting at the Bolsa Restaurant on New Year’s Day 2012. Innocent bystander Keni Su’a was also killed.
This is the second plea deal in the case. On December 1, 2015, gangster Real Honorio pleaded guilty to the murder of Su’a. In exchange prosecutors dropped three first degree murder charges.
Sentencing will take place in January.
He says the process was improper because the appointments were not made transparently and were not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
LeBlanc is confident that most, if not all of the 33, will voluntarily step aside.
He’s not saying whether the government will rescind the appointments of anyone who refuses to go quietly.
“We thought that those (appointments) constituted an abuse of process by a previous government and we’ve asked 33 individuals to consider doing the right thing in our judgment in declining to accept those appointments,” LeBlanc said Tuesday.
“If they want to submit their candidacies in a more open and transparent process, we would of course be happy to look at them.”
LeBlanc has given the appointees until Dec. 18 to respond.
Among those appointed were members of the Immigration and Refugee Board and the National Energy Board and top executives at Canada Post, Telefilm Canada and Via Rail.
The Harper government made the appointments last summer, just before the federal election was called.
Some four dozen involved appointments to fill slots that would not become vacant until well after the election or renewals of appointments that weren’t due to expire for up to a year after the election.
Rona Ambrose, the interim Conservative leader, said the new government has “every right” to terminate the appointments. But she urged the Liberal regime to assess each individual “based on merit.”
Courtesy Canadian Press
