Saturday, October 27, 2007

 

10,000 drug-related pages

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Those 10,000 drug-related pages mentioned yesterday in the Basi Virk hearing got me thinking ... wondering about the near-forgotten name of the person allegedly suspected of being the new "Mr Big" in West Coast crime.

The report on pre-trial proceedings in Courtroom 64 yesterday included a comment about the Prosecution delivering 10,000 pages of drug-related documents to the Defence lawyers only a few days ago. Naturally, the Defence lawyers demanded to know how they could analyse a total of 25,000 pages and be ready for their next court appearance on November 16 ... or 23rd ... or December 3.

But (I kept thinking) why are drug-related documents in the Basi Virk Basi / BC Rail trial re-surfacing now? Weren't the original charges against Dave Basi stayed, presumably because the tenants in his rental property were the ones allegedly growing marijuana. But Defence is seeking the drug documents now ... and it got me searching for information about that man called Bains.

Jasmohan Singh Bains.

Did you know that the raid on the B.C. Legislature in 2003 stemmed from information gathered during a drug investigation which targeted "the criminal activities of Jasmohan Singh Bains and his associates"? And that one of Bain's associates was alleged to be his cousin, Dave Basi?

"The Crown alleges Bains was the head of a Victoria-based criminal organization
that was shipping kilograms of cocaine to the Toronto area. The money was then shipped back by Federal Express in vacuum-sealed bags stuffed with fabric softeners to 'disguise' the contents." [Island drug investigation led to raid on the B.C. legislature. By Neal Hall, CanWest News Services. April 06, 2007]

20 kg. of cocaine were seized by police during a 3-month period ending December 2003. Police also intercepted courier shipments of cash, including one shipment of $189,000., which police learned through wiretap was from the sale of 5 kg of cocaine in Toronto.

Police learned through wiretap

" ... Jasmohan Bains ... was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine after police seized 2 kg of cocaine on Dec. 3, 2003 in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto between Sept. 19 and Dec. 9, 2003.

So this is the "Jas Bains" who allegedly made 26 calls to Dave Basi at work during the summer of 2003, the calls being picked up on the RCMP wire taps.

Bulk trafficking cocaine & marijuana



And RCMP were investigating "bulk" trafficking in cocaine and marijuana [in] December (2003) when they executed the federal drug warrants linked to the legislature raids. What could possibly have led the police into the Ministry of Finance except those wire-tapped cell-phone calls from a suspected Mr Big?

Crown prosecutor Janet Winteringham said in Supreme Court in May 2007: "The Victoria drug investigation began in May 2002 after the arrest in the U.S. of Cirilio Lopez which resulted in word on the street indicating Bains was going to take over Lopez's drug operations," Winteringham said.

Tips from an informant suggested [Dave] Basi was laundering money for Bains by purchasing real estate," Winteringham said.

"After a wiretap operation was in place for the drug case, police overheard Basi discussing B.C. Rail matters." ["Drug link alleged in Basi case". Times Colonist - May 08, 2007]

The trial of Jasmohan Singh Bains is scheduled for 2008 in Victoria.

Jeff Rud (Times Colonist, 16 Sept 2004) says: The names of Mandeep Sandhu and Jasmohan Bains were also listed in search warrant information ... related to the non-drug investigations that are central to the raid on the legislature offices.

Dave Basi had recommended Mandeep Sandhu to the Liberal Party Constituency of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca. Sandhu was later charged with possession and trafficking of marijuana. Sandhu's cousin, Constable Ravinder Dosanjh, was charged and found guilty of breach of trust for advising Sandhu to evade discussion of the $34,000. seized from his Saanich home. Charges against Sandhu were stayed but he forfeited the cash. So there were links "Everywhichway" indeed.

But Mr Big might be a different kettle of fish. If Dave Basi was linked to Mr Big and if Dave Basi was taking routine underworld business calls in the B.C. Ministry of Finance, the province is in far deeper doo-doo than I had previously realized.

Those 10,000 drug-related pages could hold explosive evidence surrounding the sale of B.C. Rail. "There are certain documents that may have an impact on certain cabinet ministers and we may have to pursue those documents," McCullough said. [Bill Tileman, The Straight, 27 Oct 07]

The Defence is asking ... we should all be asking: How much longer must British Columbia wait, before the facts are revealed at trial? - BC Mary.

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Uh-oh. One day later, October 27, 2007:
Is Defence preparing to bury that wiretap evidence? - BC Mary




DISCLOSURE FALLS SHORT, DEFENCE LAWYER SAYS

Jeff Rud
Times Colonist - Saturday, October 27, 2007

... [Michael] Bolton said the defence also plans to introduce motions to quash wiretap authorizations used by police as well as the search warrants for the legislature raids ...


jrud@tc.canwest.com

Jeff Rud's complete report is at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=77771304-3f9a-4d79-bf06-3b8f1171dd5e

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Comments:
Mary, although having associates of big time drug dealers acting as senior assistants to the Minister of Finance and Minister of Transport is questionable in its own right, let's not let the "War on Drugs" divert us from the real issues here which is the theft of the assets of the people of BC. The specific charges against Basi and Virk are at best a diversionary tactic, deflecting attention from the real crimes. As Robin said in his piece about yesterday's courtroom "dance" the idea that "how is it possible, for reasonable and prudent Canadians, to believe that NO elected official merits serious investigation?" is laughable on its face at best and essentially inexcusable and unacceptable.

You know what they say, birds of the feather flock, and criminals tend to cluster, even if they specialize in different crimes. The real issue here is betrayal of the public trust and I for one think it was/is occurring at a higher level than that of ministerial assistants.

As I have consistently said, Basi and Virk didn't really have that much "influence" to sell, but they certainly had access to them that did/do.
 
A lot of Sikh names arose in this case. That wouldn't make Mr Oppal proud.

Prediction: evidence will be "lost" in the Basi-Virk case, leading to a successful "Carosela" motion to dismiss same. If the RCMP didn't have to inform local police, then there would have been no raids, arrests or charges. We do not have a working justice system in BC.
 
"We do not have a working justice system in BC."

I would second that! But on second thought maybe it depends on where you are "positioned." Perhaps if you are in the right "position" the so called justice system is working just fine, thank you!
 
Why is has it taken so long for this trial to go ahead if there is so many overlapping arguments.

P. ill
 
What about the ALR trial? Is there any update as to what's happening with that?
 
k c:

I have been conducting Westlaw research into interventions by CJ Brenner in several cases. Big Media should have jumped on his assignment of his stooge, Associate Justice, Pat Dohm, to do the dirty in the Walls-Millard corruption case. That is only the tip of the ice-berg. I have recorded over 300 cases where judicial findings clearly did not follow the facts.

Westlaw queries, which extend both to Brenner's private practice litigation and his judicial work, reveal: not a single published case where an individual benefited from either his private or public work. As an attorney, he served only government or corporate clients. Of course, that would stop when he took a judicial oath. Wouldn't it?

Read the following case and see how a Brenner-court judge - with a prosecutorial background - awarded a man Small Claims peanuts, after he proved cop negligence in omitting to properly control a police dog. Message: sue a fellow officer of the court and you will either get nothing, or next to nothing.
http://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2005/2005bcsc331/2005bcsc331.html
 
COLLINS UNDER INVESTIGATION-YES OR NO ?

Lawyer for former aides alleges 'BIG LIE' by police

Defence claims officials were indeed investigated Neal Hall Vancouver Sun Friday April 20, 2007.

McCullough argued about police briefing notes from Dec.1-9 2003 that indicated Collins was under investigation. Wiretapped phone calls(nov. 17 2003)by RCMP overheard Basi advised OmniTrax that Collins had authorized a "consolation prize" for it if it would stay in the bidding. Another call the same day had Basi telling Virk that Collins had approved the consolation prize. Mr. Collins also had a dinner with OmniTrax executives Pat Broe and Dwight Johnson at the Villa del Lupo Dec.9 2003. Why on earth would Gary Collins ever have dinner with a bidder of this railroad,by himself? These two individuals were also attending a few liberal fundraisers in those days. See Kierans and Pilothouse donations 2001-2005 to the liberals.

On another note,if you look back on the search warrants from Sept. 29 2004.page 6 #26 "That from the investigation and information received, it has been determined that Erik BORNMAN was writing cheques payable to Aneal Basi,which would be given by Erik BORNMAN to BASI. The funds were provided by Bornman to Basi for Basi's assistance in referring clients and his assistance on matters of government business." Referring Clients to Pilothouse ? No way. Have we not heard of other individuals referring clients to the Pilothouse boys in 2003 ? Paul Taylor was allegedly referring Pilothouse services to the new car dealers and Glen Ringdal in emails from Aug. 23 2003 that surfaced in 2006-2007. Paul worked at the finance ministry at the time with Dave Basi. Kpmg has recently cleared Mr. Taylor of all wrongdoing regarding those Aug 23 2003 emails. The warrants have A Basi recieving 7 cheques from Sept 11 2002-Aug. 20 2003 from Bornman from Pacific Public Affairs.

A few thoughts on why the Pilothouse boys were not charged with bribing a public official anyone? Did the special prosecuter really need these guys for witness's that badly to make this case sucessful ? The crown did'nt need those developers that allegedly bribed Basi to help them with ALR land removal. The crown is charging the developers.
 
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