The Legislature Raids

The KPMG report on ICBC ceo Paul Taylor is unfinished.

Additional key information should be in the detailed report to follow.

FOI for the detailed report will shed light on the auto industry in B.C.

The report and interviews were done by Peter Armstrong who is the boss and owner of one office of KPMG in Vancouver.

The bottom of page 8 of the summary report says it all.

"Mr. Taylor brought a folder to the interview that he told us contained his personal notes in preparation for the interview and emails.

"We asked that Mr. Taylor provide us with any relevant information he had in particular,we asked if he would provide the contents of the folder and the emails.

"The contents of the folder and emails were not provided but Mr. Taylor subsequently sent us a list of the contents of the folder."

WOW! some integrity for a public servant and very helpful for KPMG and the liberals.

ICBC's Terms of Reference for the President/Chief Executive Officer states The CEO has the responsibility to:C. Foster a high performance corporate culture that promotes ethical practices, encourages individual integrity/accountability and social responsibility;

I can hardly wait to see Mr. Taylor's performance Report.

O well,I hear he will be a witness in this trial. That should be interesting.

Keep an eye on the body shop and auto glass problems in the province-closely connected to this trial and all the characters involved with directing ICBC work to specific auto body and auto glass shops in B.C. - All 900 + Million Dollars of it.
 

I agree this report was more about protecting the government than getting at the truth.

Release the report in full detail!
 

After a vehicle accident in Port Coquitlam in 2002, ICBC phoned me to say that the other party admitted fault, thus I could commence repairs. The operator said they had a "Fast Track" list, and recommended a single company (a franchise). At the time, I wasn't concerned about competition fairness. However, if there is favouritism, it is likely that the company getting the benefit would be kick back money for political donations.

It is too bad that it is only NDP back benchers who are carrying on the fight for truth on Basi-Virk. All major NDP announcements are made by 3 elitists who are lukewarm on the prosecution of one of their own. Of the three, Carol James is married to a cop, while Jenny Kwan and Mike Farnsworth, both have law enforcement/criminology backgrounds. Basi-Virk would not have arisen had 2 police services not come into the same information. That made a coverup impossible. James-Kwan-Farnsworth have been sandbagging effective opposition work. Elitists help elitists.
 

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Anon 2:05,

Thanks for the ICBC anecdote. This whole story has left me wondering why we hadn't clicked onto the ICBC possibilities before now. Heaven knows, the current administration has no time for co-operative enterprises.

Can't agree with your theory that professional training in law enforcement makes a person want to protect crooks or crooked deals.

And btw, Carole James' husband was in the RCMP for a while, some long time ago. Cripes, if your theory holds true, what about Rich Coleman?

I think your next statement is contradictory where you (correctly, in my opinion) credit the police services for Operation Everywhichway. Maybe I'm missing something here. What's your point, really?

The NDP person who gets me skating on the ceiling is the meek, mild (OK useless) Leonard Krog whose role is supposed to be Opposition Justice Critic. He & Carole should set up a tearoom somewhere (herbal tea) for afternoon seances. Grrrrr.

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Very quickly, David Schreck has a column on this issue too Mary, readers can find it here:
http://www.strategicthoughts.com/
 

anonymous glass guy said:

Check out Elections BC- Political Contributions System (PCS) on BC.GOV.CA web site. Interesting (astonishing is a more appropriate word)how much money was donated to the liberals in 2001-2003 from Kieran Consulting,Brian Kieran,KPMG,BC Automobile Dealers Association and all the new car dealers in BC plus thier family and friends.In 2001 alone,between Kieran and KPMG,the liberals could buy a nice suv and get a (new)luxury tax rebate on it.

Rumour has it that KPMG may do work for ICBC.I need some help on this rumour.

Also of interest is the fact that ICBC recently offered a new link between collision repair shops at new car dealerships to direct more ICBC claims to their collision shops.Oh,and by the way-Paul Taylor is on ICBC's negotiating committee for the Collision Repair Industry Agreement (CRIA).One of the many competition limiting facts about ICBC's collision repair industry is there are Five different hourly labour and paint rates for BC's collision shops(up to 27% more money for some shops).The real crime is 2.7 million policy holders don't have a clue on how much their collision shop is getting paid to work on your car.I smell a conflict of interest.

One more controversial program ICBC has is called the Industry Sustainment Fund.ICBC will pay the Automotive Retailors Association and the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. a "contribution" if the Express Repair Shops province wide achieve an average repair target on all claims. In 2006 ICBC paid(contributed) $188,535 dollars to these two associations due to the shops keeping below the average cost per claim. Fancy that!

Keep on digging

P.S. Has anyone heard from Gary Collins lately or Christy Clark or Minister Coleman regarding this trial.
 

Curioser and curiouser....

Mr. Schreck draws a FOIR blank with respect to the terms of reference for the KPMG investigation?

This is getting curiouser and curiouser.

And, given the principals involved, why shouldn't it be.

Then again sometimes, as we have learned more than once around here, real news is not, apparently.

News that is.

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anonymous glass guy said:

KPMG's report states that Paul Taylor attended meetings with the former minister of finance Gary Collins with regards to the luxury tax issues with an individual from the BCADA. I wonder if its that same individual named on the original search warrant list back in 2004. I believe when Mr.Collins quickly exited provincial politics he went to work for the now shut down Harmony Airlines. Harmony Airlines was owned by David Ho. David Ho owns MCL Motor Cars and is a member of you guessed it-the BCADA/New Car Dealers Association. Check out liberals political donation list again 2001-2007. Minister Collins was also a multi tasker at the time-he was also the Minister in charge of ICBC. Mr. Collins did say when the footsteps of the RCMP on the legislature steps were heard in Hawaii-he was politically astute enough to know that this was very bad or something like that.

A few months back I sent a complaint to ICBC's board of directors regarding some of the conflicts of interest in the collision and glass programs. The assistant to one of the directors told me to phone back at a later date. It seems her boss Sue I. Paish(two-term director of ICBC) was involved in an Independent Commission to review MLA's Pay Compensation including her direct boss-Minister in charge of ICBC John Les. I am still waiting for an answer
 

Anonymous "Express Collision Repair Shop" said:

The KPMG report page 9 "The evidence indicates that Mr. Taylor had business and personal relationships to a varying extent with representatives of the BCADA and it's members and the author of the Email. The relationships are discussed in our Detailed Report." HAD BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS ? Is that a typo ? My computer screen is a little dirty,is that HAS or HAD ? A deputy finance minister and past head of the BCADA involved in meetings regarding BCADA Luxury tax issues. The luxury tax limit jumped from $32,000 to $55,000(aprox.) in 3 years. The Detailed Report will most likley be held up for eons with the privacy commissoner.

ICBC's President and CEO and directors have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the corporation and policy holders of BC. Mr. Taylor has not been very helpful in this investigation. The president and ceo of ICBC (and the former deputy finance minister) who has direct or indirect input for ICBC programs,plus tax issues that benefit the BCADA and thier members has strict Conflict of Interest laws to adhere to. ICBC's board of directors and John Les should be asking a few questions to the ceo regarding this mess(maybe his memory will improve a little). If Mr. Taylor had any business dealings with the BCADA or any of it's members,he should resign immediately.

My shop is audited up to 3-4 times a year by ICBC to make sure the customers have paid thier deductibles.I have to hand over customers personal financial info. ie.credit card numbers,blank cheques,debit cards etc. If I do not, I will be terminated from the Express Program.The privacy commissioner has been stalling on the handover of third party financial info to ICBC for over two years.Mr. Taylor should have to be honest and accommodating just like all the body shops and glass shops he forces to break federal and provincial privacy laws every day to be part of the EXPRESS PROGRAM.
 

Barking up the wrong tree here people.

Having met and dealt with Paul Taylor while he was DM (although I intensely dislike the man), I can tell you that the guy had CYA down to an art form. He was anal to the point that you could envision him diarizing his own bowel movements!

Kieran on the other hand was a bombastic loudmouth who, expect for Jamie's contacts, would have been put out to pasture long ago.

In all likelihood the details of the fishing trip were exaggerated by Kieran to impress his partners. I can't see how Paul Taylor would have suddenly dropped his guard and started babbling his secrets.

If you want and try and find evidence of PT with his hand in the cookie jar you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be looking a very long time even if it is true.
 

It was "HAD" on Page 9 ... "had business and personal relationships to a varying extent with representatives of the BCADA and its members and the author of the Email. These relationships are discussed in our Detailed Report."


Hmm. The "Detailed Report", eh?

That would be (Page 2) the "full-length written report of our review procedures and findings ("Detailed Report") which will soon be issued to the Government. Legal counsel for the Government conducted a preliminaty review of the Detailed Report to consider the nature and extent of personal information outlined in the Detailed Report in the context of Privacy legislation ... as a result KPMG was instructed to prepare this summary ... removing most references to third parties and other information identified by legal counsel as personal information."

Interesting, too: "The reader is cautioned that in accordance with our reporting instructions ... we have not incorporated interview and other evidence gathered regarding the relationships between individuals, the specific text of the Email and much of the interview evidence addressing the specific passages contained in the Email. This represents a significant limitation on our ability to report our detailed findings ... "

Sincere thanks, Anonymous 1:52 for what you have added to our understanding.

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anonymous 1:52 wrote:

"My shop is audited up to 3-4 times a year by ICBC to make sure the customers have paid thier deductibles.I have to hand over customers personal financial info. ie.credit card numbers,blank cheques,debit cards etc...

The privacy commissioner has been stalling on the handover of third party financial info to ICBC for over two years.Mr. Taylor should have to be honest and accommodating just like all the body shops and glass shops he forces to break federal and provincial privacy laws every day to be part of the EXPRESS PROGRAM."


Thank you for that most revealing and informative comment about how our federal and provincial privacy laws are being broken daily - and imposed in a such threatening and patisan way.

The laws of piracy apparently have no respect for the laws of privacy - unless, of course, they work to the pirate's benefit.
 

Mary, you might add that KPMG is the firm that performs audits for Timberwest, the company that the owned the parcel of forest land that was released from the Agricultural Land Reserve in late Summer 2003 after David Basi was allegedly paid $50,000 by developers Duncan and Young.
 

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Thanks and thanks again for the work you've all done, digging up old facts which must be considered.

KPMG Forensic's 14-page summary in my view is a carpet-bagful of weasel words.

They're not allowed to tell us what they've discovered (if anything). And the premier's office may or may not tell us much (if anything), either.

So your comments coming in this way are really important.

While I was away over Thanksgiving Weekend, I read through the 14-page summary 3 times (frustrating exercise) ... and resolved to check out that famous e.mail in the March 30 2007 edition of the Vancouver Province.

Bill Tieleman had a copy of that e.mail too, I think.

Has anyone seen it?

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Anonymous glass guy said:

I believe when and if a highly edited "Detailed Report" of this email surfaces "the ---- will hit the fan of liberal integrity". KPMG's summary report is a white wash. KPMG and their 900 plus hours for this mess will be too expensive for most concerned citizens for copying for FOI requests.If anyone does request the report they must insist the charges be waived for the good of the Public Interest.The media and the NDP will have to force this government to release the detailed report. The NDP has plenty of inside knowledge regarding this mess. I hope they do not mess this one up this week in question period.

This "email" was offered to a few individuals and associations 7 months before it surfaced in the media. This "email" was read to at least one individual over the phone,however the "email" was never delivered by the anonymous caller. There are some clues in the summary report that will come back and bite the government and KPMG. John Les should ask for Mr. Taylors resignation over his reluctance to be helpful in a very expensive taxpayer funded investigation. I still can't get over KPMG and thier vast expertise and top notch investigaters could not come up with a witness's many phone numbers. KPMG just had to phone the government or the crown prosecutor.
 

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Many thanks, 11:24.

I agree that this "summary" is a poor bargain for the results it achieved at the (secret) cost.

I hate the way "privacy" is now being used as a fig leaf. Surely the analysis of this controversial email is the people's business?

Maybe I'm making too much of this, but isn't it interesting that KPMG's name is now KPMG Forensics Inc.

As if there's a full-time, professional certification for chasing down crooks instead of merely auditing certain events for accuracy or accountability.

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