Monday, June 07, 2010

 

WooHoo ... an "Accredited" newsman reports on Basi Virk! BC Rail has left the station ... again!!

'
Basi-Virk trial back on track, but won't resume until 2 p.m. today
 
By NEAL HALL
Vancouver Sun - June 7, 2010
 
VANCOUVER — The Basi-Virk political corruption trial, after being delayed for two weeks, appeats [sic] to be back on track today.

Sort of.

The jury was excused by the trial judge just before noon and told to return at 2 p.m.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie is expected to address the jury then.

Still waiting to testify is Martyn Brown, who is B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell's chief of staff and top political adviser.

{Snip} ...

Read more HERE

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Watchingfromnextdoor comments:


Publication ban be damned. I want to see a hanging!! I want to see the Illinois Central Railroad (read CN) in Canada reduced to a branch line, a tax paying branch line. I want to see the property stolen from the people of Canada in general and the people of BC in particular restored. I also want to see the process unfold on TV and read about it in the newspaper and online. So Mr. Hall and all you other lap dogs, get off your collective asses and get to work! 

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BC Mary comment: [Cough] ... Yr humble Editor swears on a stack of Hansard Debates that I didn't write the comment (above); neither did my mother. But I sincerely thank ... hell, no ... (My name is MARY, after all) ... I bless "Watchingfromnextdoor" for reading our hearts and saying what we, by law (for chrissakes) are prevented from saying.

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Basi-Virk trial could last more than 10 months, jury hears

 By Neal Hall
Vancouver Sun - June 7, 2010

VANCOUVER — The jury at the Basi-Virk political corruption trial heard some shocking news Monday: the trial may last ten-and-a-half months.

When the jury was selected, the original estimate was for a trial of six to eight weeks, likely wrapping up by the end of June or mid-July.

The new 10.5-month estimate means the trial would go well into 2011, possibly ending as late as next March, depending how much summer and Christmas vacation jurors are allowed.

{Snip} ...

Meanwhile, still waiting to testify is Martyn Brown, who is B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell's chief of staff and top political adviser.

{Snip} ...

Read more HERE.

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Basi-Virk trial expected to be five times longer than original estimate


By Neal Hall
Vancouver Sun - June 8, 2010
 The jury at the political corruption trial of Dave Basi and Bob Virk, after being delayed for two weeks, returned to court Monday to hear some shocking news.

{Snip} ...

A decision on whether the current jury will continue to hear the case likely will be made today.

{Snip} ...

So far, the trial has heard from only one witness, who still hasn't finished his testimony and is scheduled to return at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Martyn Brown, the chief of staff of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, testified for three days before the trial was adjourned on May 20. 

{Snip} ...

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Basi+Virk+trial+expected+five+times+longer+than+original+estimate/3125887/story.html#ixzz0qFujlKOU

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Basi-Virk trial judge asks jury if they can stay for 10 months


By Keith Fraser
The Province - June 7, 2010

Read it HERE

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Basi+Virk+trial+judge+asks+jury+they+stay+months/3123986/story.html

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Comments:
Publication ban be damned. I want to see a hanging!! I want to see the Illinois Central Railroad (read CN) in Canada reduced to a branch line, a tax paying branch line. I want to see the property stolen from the people of Canada in general and the people of BC in particular restored. I also want to see the process unfold on TV and read about it in the newspaper and online. So Mr. Hall and all you other lap dogs, get off your collective asses and get to work!
 
Watching on the internet

I whole heartedly agree - I want to see the process unfold onTV and read about it in newspapers.

This is not the soviet union - we have a right to open and transparent justice system.

Steamroller
 
Jury was just told that the trial could take 10.5 months!

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Basi+Virk+trial+could+last+more+than+months+jury+hears/3123382/story.html

GAB
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-rail-trial-could-take-more-than-10-months/article1595360/
 
I also heard on CBC that J-Mac informed somebody (the lawyers, with the jury present?) that the trial may take through next March.

Is this because they are going to continue the current schedule of meeting two or three days per month, for an hour or two - or because they are actually going to deal with the mountains of sleaze that lifting any rock along the rail line is likely to bring to light.

BTW, hear, here and cheerio watcher from next door, you're talking my language.......
 
koot--

Yup - it's up from Mark Hume too (although GAB had it at my place first)....

10 freakin' months....

Bring ALL the witness on!

.
 
Lot's of holidays planned and a short sitting schedule. Must be nice work for lawyers..
 
Lets go for a full 12 months...can't be good news for the CEO...They're going to have to have a session next spring and with a quiver full of questions for our Dear Leader arising out of the intervening testimony - in front of the jury - that old line about 'it being sub judice' just won't cut it.

I reckon that Madame Justice MacKenzie may now be having some second thoughts about this little package that the former associate chief left her.

Woulda been over much sooner if Dohm had left Bennett in charge...my view.
 
Mary, you must be in shock.
As I am, once again fooled by those I grew up admiring.

Police investigate police.
Police protect those who pay them!
The fix was in long ago,
the witnesses are paid to play a role.
The out come will be a sweeping victory for the fart catchers, and will give themselves big bonus', while the rest of us get raped to death!
 
BC Girl,

Why would I be shocked?

Yesterday we had reasons for thinking there never would be a trial. Today we know there WILL be a trial.

It really worries me, the way people accept defeat so easily. And the direst consequences, such as (sheesh!) getting "raped to death".

Do you really accept such a horrible outlook for British Columbia?

I mean ... just simply accept it?
.
 
This is excellent news, I hope! I look forward to hearing all the testimony and I hope that maybe JMac might have actually considered the opinion of a certain "unaccredited" journalist. I will be investing in jumbo popcorn.
 
Another reason for this, other than what's in my reply to Robin's latest:

The protracted trial (as has also been the case and no doubt the rationale for the lengthy pre-trial hearings) allows for one important thing: continued ownership/operation of formerly public assets by CN. Which would be, and very likely be once the court is forced to reckon with the obvious facts of a criminally rigged bidding process, stripped away from CN as proceeds of crime (maybe not their crime, but still crime, i.e. the illegal means by which BC Rail was "sold").

I submit that a lot of the shenanigans going on here don't have to do with protecting Premier Campbell - they have to do with protecting CN and its executives, as well as its stock prices and corporate reputation. And its largest recent acquisition/asset. Every day BC Rail trackage is still making money for CN is a good day; if you're CN. Another year of proceedings about what, so far, is only a related proceeding, not the central fact or the rigged bidding process, or CN's role in the purchase of a leadership, then a government......another year they make money off what shuldn't be theirs at all and which - legally - they should not be in control of, since teh legality of the deal is now under suspicion.

If the RCMP were doing their job, that is. Maybe it just shouldn't be their job anymore (and we should elect Crown Prosecutors, not allow governments to control their "special" selection).
 
It was good to hear the trial will continue providing the jury can remain intact. Whether we get the information we all seem to crave or not is still to be determined.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the Pickton trial, did they not have 2 alternate jurists to go along with the 12 first stringers? If this was the case and this present jury cannot fulfill their commitment causing a mistrial, wouldn't it be prudent to also have a couple of alternates now that it has been determined that the trial will be much longer?

One thing that I can pretty much guarantee is that there were a lot of long faces in the BC Liberal party, both present and former, when they heard that the trial will be creating news headlines for such a long period of time. One could even speculate that those former ministers that fled the political scene are more dismayed than those still singing from Campbell's songbook. Although they may have moved onto other endeavors, their potential complicity could prove to be a stink that will never wash off.

In closing, I also get the feeling that very few of us really care whether the defendants are deemed to be guilty or innocent. They may be the stars of the show, but it's the supporting cast that will probably attract much more interest.
 
Skookum; thanks for putting my thoughts to paper. I've often thought what you've stated...and I wonder too if Mr. Gates is more than a tad worried about his major investment. If it all were to go sideways, the players in this debacle will have made a major enemy in the corporate/investment world - of a man few want to mess with.

It would be really interesting to know how he feels about this whole issue, wouldn't it?
 
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