Friday, October 12, 2007

 

All 3 newspapers in B.C. avoid mentioning the Basi Virk Basi connection. Only The Globe and Mail joins the dots. Why?

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Vancouver Sun and Victoria Times Colonist ran the same story on the same date with a Louise Dickson byline, about Police Chief Battershill, while The Province ran a shorter version with no byline. Conclusion: all 3 CanWest newspapers in B.C. deliberately and knowingly avoided making any mention of Basi, Virk, Basi. One newspaper and one journalist, Brennan Clarke of Toronto's The Globe and Mail, were the only ones who connected some of the dots on this important B.C. Rail Case. Why is that? - BC Mary.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT:
LAWYER REQUESTED BATTERSHILL'S EXPENSE-ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND REPORTS ON WRONGFUL DISMISSALS

POLICE CHIEF PUT ON LEAVE AMID ALLEGATIONS
Decision was made about Victoria's top officer after a document leaked to the media raised concerns, mayor says

BRENNAN CLARKE

Special to The Globe and Mail - October 12, 2007

VICTORIA -- Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill has been temporarily removed from his post amid allegations of improper spending and wrongful dismissal.

The Victoria Police Board voted late Wednesday to place Chief Battershill on administrative leave, after a flurry of Freedom of Information requests were made by Victoria lawyer David Mulroney, on behalf of an unnamed client.

Mr. Mulroney confirmed yesterday that his client has asked for Chief Battershill's expense account and credit card information dating back three years, along with internal reports about wrongful dismissals and suspensions without pay. {Snip} ...

It's too soon to say whether the information will trigger a police-board investigation, let alone any criminal probe, Mr. Lowe added.

Chief Battershill was appointed in 1999. His focus on harm reduction and affordable housing in dealing with the city's drug and street crime earned him a reputation as forward-thinking manager. He also displayed a low tolerance for improper conduct in his ranks and launched a number of internal investigations and police-complaint probes.

But the only officer who came close to being dismissed was Constable Ravinder (Rob) Dosanjh, who was convicted of obstruction of justice after wiretaps recorded him advising his cousin Mandeep Sandhu to lie about the origins of $35,000 in cash that police had seized from Mr. Sandhu's house.

That investigation helped set the stage for the Dec. 28, 2003, raids on the provincial legislature that resulted in corruption charges against bureaucrats Dave Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi. Constable Dosanjh, who had been suspended since the charges were laid almost four years ago, resigned his position Oct. 2. {Snip} ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071012.BCCOP12/TPStory/National

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Comments:
Mary, you might add that David Mulroney ran as a Federal Liberal in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding in 2004. Managing his campaign was Jamie Elmhirst. Mulroney would later run for the Federal Liberals in Victoria in 2006. Mulroney supported Stephane Dion in the Liberal leadership race.

In 1995, even though he had little drug prosecution experience, Mulroney's law firm was awarded federal drug prosecution. At this time Mulroney was vice president of MP David Anderson's constituency association. Between 1996 and 2004, his firm billed the federal government $5.26 million dollars for its services.

source:
www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/2004_05.html
 
Maybe David Basi is David Mulroney's anonymous client!

None of the major newspapers mentioned the link to Ian Thow and the rides on the "corporate jet" or fundraising activities either.
 
I don't think the anonymous client would be Basi. Basi already has a lawyer in Michael Bolton.
 
The reference to Basi was tongue in cheek! Mulroney keeps coming up as he does a lot of pro bono / discounted work in politically charged cases. Keeps his name in the newspapers as he positions for political work down the road. I wouldn't read too much else into that.

The police chief was also Lowe's hand picked acting city administrator which raised many eyebrows at the time. Potential for conflict of interest as he did two jobs once.

This is going to be a very interesting story to follow. My suspicion is that a number of former "characters" are going to come back into th spotlight.

The break in at the law offices last night brings back memories of Watergate!
 
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Watergate, Anon 12:10? I'm getting nunna nunna twilight zone vibrations from a source much, much closer to home!

I think the lawyer's name was Bruce Torrie whose home in Victoria was burgled -- no valuables taken, only files.

He had, you see, been acting as counsel to the Liberal Party in the early days of 2004. He got home from such a meeting in Vancouver on that occasion, to find that his house had been burgled. Some angry, he was, and who could blame him.

It'll take me a while to re-discover the information which he wrote up himself. It included the police file number and all, inviting people to phone in if they had any tips.

But all went quiet. You know. The Legislature Syndrome.

Back later. And yes, this is going to be a very interesting file to follow.

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If we're playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey here, I'll take a stab at it.

My guess is that David Mulroney's client is some disgruntled person from inside the Victoria police ranks.

Someone like Rob Dosanjh who had that long, long chat with the Police Chief the day Rob finally resigned from the Victoria Police Force. What took them so long??

I wondered, at the time, how many hours could it possibly take to say "Well, Rob, we'll be sorry to see you go, but best of luck etc etc."

So there was a debate? a disagreement? maybe an argument? and it ends up in the Heenan Blakie office of David Mulroney. Pro Bono, maybe?

But the real question is: who broke into that office after that?

And why?

Victoria is such a SMALL town, socially speaking. How come they haven't figured out already who the real jackass is?

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Since we are speculating...

Mulroney isn't a very good lawyer but he isn't an idiot and is politically astute. He isn't going to waste his time chasing after a polce chief over a disgruntled ex-employee and then leaking the docs to the press.

I think that Mulroney has some explosive documents that he either received from an insider in the police or the city but he has to go through the FOI process to prevent revealing the source of the documents or how he got them.

I don't think at the chief is the real target. Lowe is hated by the business community who felt they put him in power only to have him waste his time on social issues! The chief has other associates as well who are owed a "favour".
 
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So who might have broken into his office?

Just speculating, of course.

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Mary

David Mulroney doesn't work for Heenan Blaikie. It was the office of Heenan Blaikie partner Murray T. Rankin that was broken into. Rankin is Battershill's lawyer. I wonder if Murray Rankin is any relation to former Vancouver city counsellor Harry Rankin.
 
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Thanks, 8:37.

That fact had dawned on me only a few minutes before your comment, when I was looking up David Mulroney and found that his law firm is just that: David Mulroney & Co.

Then I returned to the news story and stared hard at it -- concluding that Mulroney's client is the un-named person seeking FOIs.

And Murray Rankin at Heenan Blaikie was acting on behalf of Police Chief Battershill.

And I really oughta resolve not to write after 7:00 PM when my poor brain has been working for 10 or 12 hours.

Thanks, all.

Btw, in searching Mulroney I found that he and Jamie Elmhirst have been associates in Liberal Party executive affairs.



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