Sunday, March 30, 2008

 

Campbell unaware of [Solicitor-General] investigation

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Vancouver Sun -- Saturday, March 29, 2008

VANCOUVER - Premier Gordon Campbell said he only found out about the criminal investigation involving solicitor-general John Les about 5:30 Friday evening.

In a scrum with reporters at the opening of the Auto Show in Vancouver on Saturday, Campbell made the following statements about Les and the investigation:

"We have to recognize what's taking place here. This is the criminal justice branch and our special prosecutors are specifically designed to keep any taint of political interference out of those investigations. This is something that I think shows once again the independence of the judiciary.

Campbell says he didn't know solicitor-general John Les was being investigated until last night.

{Snippetty-do-dah ... }

NDP public safety critic Mike Farnworth also released a statement to the media on March 29.

"The news that John Les has been forced to resign as British Columbia's Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Safety is shocking and very disturbing. John Les was handpicked by Premier Gordon Campbell to serve as the province's top law enforcer and his resignation due to a police investigation is a devastating blow to the Liberal Government," said Farnworth.

"At a time when the Liberal Government is under a cloud of investigation, this shocking development highlights the problem this government has with ethics and accountability. The Liberal Government can no longer maintain that Basi-Virk, BC Rail, Doug Walls and Ken Dobell are isolated events. It points to a culture of corruption," he said.

Read more at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=c152a849-def4-44bb-9960-c1d40539ff92&k=95111

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Weren't we told that Premier Campbell would be holding a press conference on this issue, at 10:00 AM Saturday morning? Or does "Catch-me-if-you-can" at the Auto Show count as a high-level press conference these days? - BC Mary.

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Comments:
Things should be interesting in question period tomorrow. Most likely the government side will say they can't respond as its under investigation, but even so I suspect a large number of people won't believe their excuse.

DPL
 
How likely is it that a person being under investigation for 11 months had no idea. Would you not have been asked to answer a few questions in that time? Can it be that the RCMP would not think to ask a question in that time? This stinks to much for my nose, and I just don't believe Les when he claims to have had no knowledge of this ongoing investigation.
 
So now the acting soliciter general is John Van Dongen, who was agriculture minister when Vancouver Island deverlopers Duncan and Young allegedly paid Basi $60,000 for his role in the release of that parcel of forest land near Sanich from the Agricultural Land Reserve. What a small world we live in.
 
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