73 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

It does not happen often in Canada, where public employees take bribes in exchange for favours performed on the political inside. The Montreal Olympic Construction site scandals are the last ones to stick in my mind.

Now we have a couple of well appointed local public employees that have admitted taking money from companies that purchase railroads and develop land. Not the biggest corruption story to break out of Victoria......or is it?
Remember the policeman that was carrying the boxes of paper out of the Legislature? That picture went viral at the time.

It took our justice system and the defense team seven years and mega millions of dollars to provide a penalty of two years of "sitting in the corner at home". Does that seem right to you?

It gets worse. We as tax payers have paid for almost all of this mess. Some have suggested that a formal inquiry would be like throwing good money after bad, and we might not learn from the information gathered.

So maybe some of us have a perspective, or information that is worth sharing with the rest of us here.

Topics ideas might include.....

Why did this mess take so long to clear up?
What other favours were performed by Basi and Virk?
What information did their lawyer have that he was going to get immunity if he spilled the beans?
What did this lawyer do that required immunity?
Why are the taxpayers picking up the tab?
Are others in the provincial government involved that are being protected?
How did the developers know that these chaps were the ones to approach for favours? Was there an advertisement somewhere?

You get the idea....what do you think?

[VicHockeyFan]

Where is the process that can overturn the government's decision to pay the costs of the (now convicted) defendants? There doesn't appear to be one, as it is strictly a political decision. I personally know two of the lawyers that worked on this, and they have told me they made lots of money off of it.

[spanky123]

It does not happen often in Canada, where public employees take bribes in exchange for favours performed on the political inside.

It does not happen often that public employees get charged for taking bribes.

[Bingo]

The whole thing smells of coverup. Because of the quick end to the trail, the information on the shredded emails and other incriminating information, gets buried. I don't think the defendants will end up out of pocket at all.

[sebberry]

Isn't it great how we the taxpayers pay to prosecute AND defend these guys?

Why don't we just shoot our feet off?

[yodsaker]

The optics of BCRail/Basi/Virk are absolutely awful for this gov't. and they know it.
Imagine how much worse they think it would be if there were a trial with people testifying under oath. One can only conclude they wanted this one wrapped up and locked away.
One also wonders what might have happened if Mr. Campbell had been busted for DUI in BC rather than Hawaii where he has no drag. We might never have known.

[sebberry]

One also wonders what might have happened if Mr. Campbell had been busted for DUI in BC rather than Hawaii where he has no drag. We might never have known.

I was thinking about that incident when he was talking about Basi and Virk being criminals...

[Sparky]

Here we go...some of the participants are starting to talk. This from a disgruntled unsuccessful front man of a bidder for BC Rail.

http://www.theprovin...8606/story.html

[Sparky]

I will try and contain myself by not overloading everyone with a pile of links that require endless reading. Having said that, I can not resist sharing this link with you to a blog site that contains a reflection from Gordon Wilson...who is disgruntled for a number of reasons, the least of which being a previous leader of the BC Liberal Party.

A lot of this information is coming to light in the last 24 hours.

http://bctrialofbasi...k.blogspot.com/

[Sparky]

What information did their lawyer have that he was going to get immunity if he spilled the beans?
What did this lawyer do that required immunity?

I need to correct these statements.

The lawyer in question worked for Pilothouse the PR firm working for Omnitrax, one of the bidders for BC Rail.

The Law Society of Upper Canada is expecting to hold a “good character” hearing for Eric Bornman, a central figure in the crimes committed by Dave Basi and Bob Virk.

Read more: http://www.theprovin...l#ixzz13JfBEevU

[spanky123]

Isn't it great how we the taxpayers pay to prosecute AND defend these guys?

Why don't we just shoot our feet off?

We have been doing it for 40 years with the natives (or whatever the PC term is these days). Ever wonder why a billion dollars in legal fees has only led to a handle of actual treaties? When lawyers are paid to work both sides of the court there isn't too much incentive to halt the gravy train.

Last time I checked Basi lived in an $800K house in Cordova Bay and not a $500K home in View Royal. I suspect that if the Government really wanted to collect money, they could have looked a little harder. Didn't the whole thing start after the RCMP began wiretapping his place at Shawnigan Lake?

[Sparky]

I missed this when it aired.

http://www.atv.ca/vi...4994_74050.aspx

[Sparky]

Didn't the whole thing start after the RCMP began wiretapping his place at Shawnigan Lake?

You are almost correct Spanky, the police thought that his property at Shawnigan was being used as a grow-op and he may have been laundering his cousin's drug money by buying and renting the Shawnigan Lake property in the first place.


"Police became aware of Dave Basi when calls were made to his cellphone from his cousin, Jasmohan Singh Bains of Victoria", prosecutor Janet Winteringham said in B.C. Supreme Court.

Jas Bains was later convicted of drug dealing offences.

I am not finished joining all of the family members together yet but the original wire tap was drug related.

This will be a movie one day, you can't write this stuff. Although we have all heard the details before, they have taken place over the last 7 years. We tend to forget, we tend not to join the dots together over time.

"Operation Everywhichway" originally a drug investigation, uncovered the BC Rail bribes, and the ALR bribes by accident.

I normally do not put much credence in Wikipedia, but in this case it will quickly display the timeline and some of the connections. It is not 100 % accurate, but it is close.

http://en.wikipedia....gislature_Raids

[http]

I normally do not put much credence in Wikipedia, but in this case it will quickly display the timeline and some of the connections. It is not 100 % accurate, but it is close.

http://en.wikipedia....gislature_Raids

If only there was a way for ordinary people like me and you to correct errors in a Wikipedia entry.

[sebberry]

If only there was a way for ordinary people like me and you to correct errors in a Wikipedia entry.

There is

[LJ]

I thought that was the whole point of Wikipedia, and of course it's weakness, anyone can make an entry, the veracity of which is never questioned.

[Sparky]

Basi did not last 2 weeks without breaking his conditions.

http://www.cbc.ca/ca...#socialcomments

This is not over yet.

[Sparky]

If you, my fellow VVr's do not want to be kept abreast of this information, just let me know and I will stop posting here.

I however, think that this "Made in Victoria" topic has all the intrigue of a spy novel. (Watergate did not take this long to impeach Nixon)

I will make a point of not posting personal opinions (unless declared as such) ...mostly published articles from responsible news and blog sources.

Having said all that, this thing still stinks to high heaven. It's getting worse.

Have a read at what canada.com has to say.

Our fellow Canadians are a bit miffed as to how we do business here in BC...

http://www.canada.co...1316/story.html

[Sparky]

Here is one person's thought.

The end of justice in British Columbia

http://www.vivelecan...ritish-columbia

[spanky123]

Basi did not last 2 weeks without breaking his conditions.

http://www.cbc.ca/ca...#socialcomments

This is not over yet.

Was it reported what he did to breach his conditions?