Thursday, February 21, 2008

 

Taxpayers' money, taxpayers' assets

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Defence accuses Crown of continuing to withhold information

VANCOUVER -- .... A notice of application for disclosure, filed by lawyers for Dave Basi, Bobby Virk and Aneal Basi, calls on the Supreme Court of British Columbia to make 13 separate orders for the disclosure of paper and electronic files held by the RCMP in the force's headquarters in both Vancouver and Ottawa.

The application was filed Jan. 4, but released by the court Tuesday. It states that although "there has been voluminous disclosure" of material recently, including 37,000 pages of documents and more than 5,000 e-mails, the Crown has failed to turn over all relevant material in the potentially explosive case. {Snip} ...

One recent disclosure included a DVD and CD containing material from the computer of Erik Bornmann, former communications director in British Columbia for the federal Liberal Party, and a public relations consultant in Victoria in 2003, when police raided the legislature offices of Dave Basi and Mr. Virk.

"There are in excess of 5,500 e-mails in the package. No index has been provided of these e-mails. Each e-mail must be opened individually to assess its content," the application states.

The defence says details on a "deal" the Crown struck with Mr. Bornmann have not been released, despite a June court order that that information be disclosed. [Emphasis mine. Isn't this "Contempt of court"? - BC Mary]

The defence also complains that only recently have some police investigators been identified, including a Sergeant Terrillon, whose notes "reflect meetings ... on subjects related to elected officials."

The application states the RCMP, and not the Crown, seems to be deciding what information to release and when.

"The reasonable inference to draw is that the Special Prosecutor is either delegating the disclosure obligation to the RCMP or is not committed to making the necessary efforts to gather and provide this information to the defence," the application states. {Snip} ...

The inadequacy of the disclosure process has been a long-running complaint of the defence team and is expected to lead to a pre-trial application for a stay of proceedings, on the grounds there has been an abuse of process.

Leonard Krog, NDP Opposition critic for the attorney-general, said yesterday the government should be taking steps to ensure that the trial stays on track and goes to court.

Although the government earlier this week waived cabinet privilege over some documents, he said more needs to be done to see that the defence, and the public, gets to see all the relevant material in the case.

"The government should start co-operating immediately," Mr. Krog said.

"You'd expect the deputy attorney-general to give immediate direction [to the Crown] for full disclosure.

"This isn't like an ordinary case. This is about taxpayers' money and taxpayers' assets," he said.

{Snip}

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080221.BCBASI21/TPStory/National
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Comments:
Tieleman again beat the MSM to this story.

Where is the follow up with Bill Berardino? What does he have to say for this delay? Why does he need until May of 2008 to comply with the Judges order of June of 2007??!!
 
What I found interesting about the Janmuary 4th disclosure application documents was that on page 5, paragraph 20, it mentions "Department of Justice Agent David Mulroney" as one of the people dealing with the "denial of the DNR of the Ministerial cell phone on the basis of Parlamentary priviledge". I take it that this is the same David Mulroney who was David Anderson's constituency association vice president and ran as a Federal Liberal in Saanich Gulf Islands in 2004 and Victoria in 2006, succeeding the retiring Anderson. Given that David Mulroney was connected to so many people connected to this investigation thru Anderson, couldn't this be seen as a conflict of interest?
 
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Anonymous 7:07, many thanks for that reminder! Yes, I do believe that's the same David Mulroney -- but Google has lots of info.

I intended to look up that name, the moment I saw it again in that Jan/08 Applic for Disclosure, because I have always felt (hunch only) that there's something fishy about the way a good cop like Paul Battershill was treated, with the break-in at his lawyer's office shrugged off, and all. And Mulroney's name appears in the Battershill story too.

So after your comment arrived, I googled "David Mulroney + Paul Battershill" and here's something CBC said:


Victoria police release FOI documents relating to probe of police chief

Last Updated: October 29, 2007
CBC News

Employment contracts of Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill, his expenses and an accounting of the costs of a review on Tasers are among close to 400 pages of documents released Monday that relate to an investigation of Battershill.

Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill has been put on administrative leave since Oct. 11, after a sensitive legal document was leaked to the media.
(CBC)

The documents are a result of provincial Freedom of Information requests filed by Victoria lawyer David Mulroney, who represents a client Mulroney refused to name.

The request for information on Battershill subsequently led to his suspension and an RCMP investigation. {Snip} ...

Full story at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/10/29/bc-battershill.html

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In 2004, David Mulroney entered the race for the Saanich Gulf Islands federal Liberal nomination 3 days before the nomination meeting. To contravene party rules like that he would need the approval of the Liberal party execvutive, which then would have included Cunningham, Clark and Bornman, and Martin's BC campaign chair Mark Marissen.
In the 2007 Federal Liberal leadership race, Mulroney supported Stephane Dion along with
Marissen, Cunningham, Clark and Elmhirst. I think it's fairly safe to say David Mulroney is a Marissen insider.
 
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A big thank you, Anonymous 7:48,

and here's Paragraph #20, Notice of Application for Disclosure dated January 4, 2008, which says:


Staff Sergeant Hugh Clark was the Team Commander for Project Everywhichway in 2003. The IDDS disclosure reveals that Cpl. Hartwig, the Everywhichway file coordinator, and Sgt Gateley, the Everywhichway primary investigator, both directly reported to S/Sgt Clarke with respect to this invetigation. S/Sgt Clarke was the Team Commander for Project Everywhichway during the crucial period of August 2003 when Insp. Callens, Cpl. Hartwig, Cst. Mobbs, Sgt Gresham, **Department of Justice Agent David Mulroney**, Department of Justice lawyer Les Rose and others were dealing with the denial of the DNR on the Ministerial cell phone on the basis of Parliamentary privilege. S/Sgt Clarke reported directly to Insp. Callens who was the monitoring officer. **No notes from S/Sgt Clarke have ever been disclosed in this matter**.

__________________________________

Question: I wonder what is the difference between "an agent" and "a lawyer" for the federal department of justice?

As a mere flat-footed citizen, I don't know who to blame for not disclosing S/Sgt Clarke's notes. Is it the RCMP ... or is it the Special Prosecutor?

Or really, is it the judge who issues orders than lets them fall by the wayside, unremarked, as this Krazy Karavan rolls on?

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Another interesting namethat is listed in the disclosure documents is that of Malcolm MacDuff. According to Janet Winteringham, he runs a flooring and heating company called MacDuffco, that Basi tried to get a six figure BC government research grant for. Also mentioned is Jasmohan Bains, for whom, according to Winteringham, Basi was trying to get a position with the BC government.
 
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Anonymous 8:04,

You surely caught our attention with those remarks!!

Holy smoke, what do you mean by "According to Janet Winteringham ..." Like, she said this in court? or what?

I'm especially bug-eyed at the notion of Dave Basi trying to get Jasmohan Bains a job with the BC government. Sheesh. Doing what, do you suppose?

Does Martyn Brown know about this?

A bystander might easily begin to wonder if there's an underground system of government in Victoria.

A bystander might even begin to wonder why a few people get so angry at me for saying we should check out the Organized Crime factor. I mean, the "word on the street" had it that J. Bains was the West Coast's new "Mr Big" in the summer of 2003 ... wouldn't it be nuts NOT to check that?

BC Mary

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Ms. Winteringham made this statements in court last May when she was making her rebutal to Bolton and McCulloch's statements. She also mentioned that Michael MacDuff the brother of Malcolm MacDuff was mwentioned as one of the people arrested in an RCMP sting operation involving, I believe, grow ops.
 
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Anon 2:24, we owe you another bushel of thanks ... because it's frightening, how difficult it is to remember the many fragments of this story which, if put together into a proper narrative (such as a trial) might reach some logical conclusions.

If time permits, I'll try to follow the Jasmohan Bains factor as it seems so very, very odd that so little was said about it at that time, or since.

And it's on this point (where organized crime is suggested), that certain people go ape and begin throwing insults. A couple of dots need connecting right there.

I am told that federal prosecutors take over ALL drug trials in BC, but didn't Bill Berardino prosecute the Ravinder Dosanjh trial, which had a slight connection to the Legislature raids? Dot, dot, dot.

Thanks again.

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Ravinder Dosanjh's crime wasn't drug related. It was something along the lines of Breach of Trust. No one has been tried for any drug related charges in connection with this case.
 
The only mention of Jasmohan Bains or the MacDuffs in court was by Janet Winteringham during the spring of 2007. Not a peep has been uttered by defense counsel concerning Bains or the MacDuffs.
 
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