Monday, January 19, 2009

 

Basi, Virk, Basi in VANCOUVER Supreme Court for Mon. Jan. 19, 2009 at 10:00 AM

See the comment below for an indication of the discussion topics for this week's hearings.

The court listings confirm, in 1-1/2 pages, that the topic is mostly disclosure, disclosure, disclosure. - BC Mary.

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Comments:
Kudos to the bloggers who have consistently reported on the news the media did not see fit to report. One wonders why they do not offer credit to your blog when the MSM is riding your wave of information to file reports days late!

In a report filed by Neal Hall of the Vancouver Sun, he confirms what your blog reported earlier. Namely that the RCMP were ordered by Justice Bennett to disclose key documents.

In another twist in this saga, Neal Hall reports that the Ontario Attorney General and the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association will be seeking intervenor status at Berardino's appeal in April 2009.

Where on Earth is the BC Trial Lawyers Association and the BC Attorney General? If the Special Prosecutor and the BC Attorney General are truly independent, shouldn't the BC Attorney General also file an intervenor application? If Ontario's AG can, why not BC?

Leave it to Ontario to pick up where BC has fallen off. Absolutely shameful.

I hope that Berardino will not oppose the telvising of his appeal. But given his track record to date, he will opt for continued secrecy.

Van Sun

Judge orders disclosure of more documents in Basi-Virk case

By Neal Hall, January 19, 2009

VANCOUVER - The trial judge in the Basi-Virk case has ordered that about 75 more documents be disclosed to the defence lawyers.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett made the ruling last week while sitting in Victoria.

The matter was back in court in Vancouver today, where defence lawyer Kevin McCullough said about 25 documents remain in dispute.

The defence lawyers will return to court Wednesday to make further legal arguments for the release of the remaining documents.

The judge also mentioned that there still "thousands of documents" related to the sale of BC Rail that the defence is seeking. A hearing on those documents is set to begin Feb. 17.

Lawyer Janet Winteringham, who is part of the special prosecutor's team, told the court that the Crown needs to file its material by the end of the week for its Supreme Court of Canada appeal to be heard April 22 in Ottawa.

Defence lawyer Michael Bolton said the Criminal Lawyers Association of Ontario and the attorney general of Ontario plan to apply as intervenors in the appeal.

The Crown is appealing Bennett's previous ruling that defence lawyers should not be excluded from the courtroom while a police officer testifies about a confidential police informant. The judge ruled the matter would be heard in camera, which would exclude the public and the media.

Document disclosure has delayed the trial for years. So far, about 700,000 pages of documents have been disclosed to the defence.

The Basi-Virk case now is more than five years old – the RCMP executed search warrants on the legislature on Dec. 28, 2003.


© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

PG
 
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PG,

You are such a morale-booster!

Many thanks.

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