Friday, July 25, 2008
Basi Virk hearing today 9:00 AM
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Click on "Van Court Direct" in left column. See how it almost looks as if the B.C. Supreme Court itself is wearying of the endless repetition for Case #23299. Today, in less than 1-1/2 pages, the charges simply sum up with Full disclosure. See para. 182 - 200 in Notice of Application dated 26 February 2007 for details.
Indeed.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Click on "Van Court Direct" in left column. See how it almost looks as if the B.C. Supreme Court itself is wearying of the endless repetition for Case #23299. Today, in less than 1-1/2 pages, the charges simply sum up with Full disclosure. See para. 182 - 200 in Notice of Application dated 26 February 2007 for details.
Indeed.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
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Basi-Virk documents seized in 2003 raid turned over
Ian Mulgrew
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 25, 2008
Documents seized in the 2003 raid on the B.C. Legislature have been turned over to defence lawyers under a blanket court order the guarantees their secrecy and forestalls arguments from the media that they be made public.
In a ruling Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett said that the Liberal administration had a "moral duty" to turn over the government documents protected by solicitor-client privilege so the three men on trial for a variety of corruption charges can mount a full and fair defence.
If the defence finds any of the documents, which she has read, are relevant to the criminal proceedings, Justice Bennett said she will hear arguments about whether the individual document should be made public or may be remain protected by the cloak of privilege.
Lawyers for former Liberal aides Dave Basi, Bobby Virk and Basi's cousin, civil servant Aneal Basi, have been seeking access to the documents for years even though most are emails they authored.
The three are charged with pocketing money and trading in favours in connection with the government's billion-dollar bid to privatize B.C. Rail assets.
Justice Bennett said she believed only three documents from the plethora are likely relevant, and only one may speak to guilt or innocence.
The much-delayed trial is the subject of a Supreme Court of Canada challenge over an protected Crown witness but the next hearing to discuss continuing disclosure and other pre-trial issues is Sept. 17.
© Vancouver Sun 2008
Ian Mulgrew
Vancouver Sun
Friday, July 25, 2008
Documents seized in the 2003 raid on the B.C. Legislature have been turned over to defence lawyers under a blanket court order the guarantees their secrecy and forestalls arguments from the media that they be made public.
In a ruling Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett said that the Liberal administration had a "moral duty" to turn over the government documents protected by solicitor-client privilege so the three men on trial for a variety of corruption charges can mount a full and fair defence.
If the defence finds any of the documents, which she has read, are relevant to the criminal proceedings, Justice Bennett said she will hear arguments about whether the individual document should be made public or may be remain protected by the cloak of privilege.
Lawyers for former Liberal aides Dave Basi, Bobby Virk and Basi's cousin, civil servant Aneal Basi, have been seeking access to the documents for years even though most are emails they authored.
The three are charged with pocketing money and trading in favours in connection with the government's billion-dollar bid to privatize B.C. Rail assets.
Justice Bennett said she believed only three documents from the plethora are likely relevant, and only one may speak to guilt or innocence.
The much-delayed trial is the subject of a Supreme Court of Canada challenge over an protected Crown witness but the next hearing to discuss continuing disclosure and other pre-trial issues is Sept. 17.
© Vancouver Sun 2008
# posted by 
: July 25, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.
: July 25, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.
Just heard the tail end of a news report...seems the media will not necessarily be deemed out of the loop on cabinet document disclosure.
I'm sure more details will soon be available on the wire.
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I'm sure more details will soon be available on the wire.
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