VANCOUVER - A defence lawyer for a former B.C. government aide charged in a political corruption case slammed the provincial Liberals' "perversity" Tuesday, saying he's being denied access to documents in the case even though he's already obtained some of them through a Freedom of Information request.

Kevin McCullough, who represents Bobby Virk, said his client had access to documents involving the sale of Crown-owned B.C. Rail as a government appointee to a committee evaluating bids.

But McCullough said Virk now can't have the same information to defend himself against charges of fraud and breach of trust involving the $1-billion privatization sale of Crown-owned B.C. Rail to CN Rail in November 2003.

"It's difficult to digest the suggestion that the government is fully co-operative," said McCullough, who has made several lengthy submissions about the lack of disclosure documents.

The charges against Virk, along with his co-accused Dave Basi, also involve a Dec. 28, 2003, police raid on their legislature offices. Aneal Basi, a government communications officer, is charged with money laundering in connection with the case.

Virk was a ministerial assistant to then-transportation minister Judith Reid, while Dave Basi worked for former finance minister Gary Collins, who was heading the B.C. Rail sale.

McCullough said 17 of the seized documents, including two he obtained after a 2005 Freedom of Information request, will explain Virk's actions in relation to instructions he obtained from the premier's office and Collins.

Government lawyer George Copley has said the documents can't be released because they involve legal and financial advice on B.C. Rail and are therefore protected by solicitor-client privilege.

"You can fully co-operate and still take a principled stand and we are taking a principled stand on solicitor-client privilege," Copley said.

"We had no prior notice of the arguments being presented today or what was being sought," he said, adding he was not prepared to respond fully until Friday.

McCullough also claimed Collins was in a conflict of interest when he appointed deputy finance minister Chris Trumpy to the B.C. Rail evaluation committee while he was lead negotiator for the B.C. Rail deal.

Trumpy was also appointed by Collins as chairman of the B.C. Investment Management Corp., which holds private company shares on behalf of the B.C. government.

The appointments were made despite the fact the corporation held CN Rail stock, which currently stands at $363 million, McCullough said of the company that was favoured to win the B.C. Rail bid weeks before it was announced to the public, court has heard.

"It's an obvious conflict and one which my client was aware of and whether the (opposition) NDP would get a hold of that was an issue in question," McCullough said.

The Freedom-of-Information documents McCullough obtained include a Dec. 18, 2003, e-mail from Trumpy to Virk and others on the B.C. Rail evaluation team and a Dec. 19, 2003, e-mail to Trumpy from a lawyer titled "Advice to Trumpy re conflict."

McCullough said the RCMP interviewed Trumpy three times about the appointment issue involving Collins.

"When you're considering the government's assertion of solicitor-client position about the disclosure of this material I want you to consider it in light of not my Johnny-Come-Lately position but the one that I was advancing and chasing two years ago regarding what clearly are the actions of this government, the way that they appointed people and who they appointed," he told the judge.

Michael Bolton, a lawyer for Dave Basi, said his client is at a disadvantage compared with Virk, who had access to the seized documents that were e-mailed to him and that he likely remembers.

Basi's job was to keep Denver, Colo.,-based OmniTRAX interested in buying B.C. Rail, even after CP Rail became so disenchanted that it dropped out of the bidding process, Bolton said.

He said Basi kept up assurances about the perception of a fair bidding process to OmniTRAX even though the B.C. government had decided the successful bidder would be CN Rail weeks before the public announcement was made on Nov. 25, 2003.

OmniTRAX had increased its second-round bid by $45 million, Bolton said.

He also said putting the Crown-owned railway into bankruptcy was one option being considered at the time of the negotiations.

http://www.news1130.com/news/national/article.jsp?content=n1211158A

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