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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