Canadian Press
A lawyer for a former Liberal government aide says the RCMP participated in a big lie to a judge and the public.
Kevin McCullough told a B.C. Supreme Court trial that the Mounties said no public officials were being investigated in the sale of Crown-owned B.C. Rail. But he said former finance minister Gary Collins was being investigated, along with his client Dave Basi and Bob Virk, an aide to the former transportation minister.
McCullough said the RCMP knew Collins was being investigated and that, in an intercepted call between Basi and Virk, Basi said Collins would “work his ass off” to ensure that Omnitrax got a consolation prize to stay in the bidding for B.C. Rail.
He suggested Collins played a major role in the sale of B.C. Rail and that police knew his involvement from evidence they had in December 2003.
But they withheld that evidence until December 2006, not allowing Basi and Virk to defend themselves.
McCullough said that was an abuse of process by the Mounties and the case should be tossed out.
Basi and Virk are charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes stemming from the government’s $1-billion sale of B.C. Rail to Canadian National Railway.
The Crown alleges that Basi and Virk put the bidding process at risk by leaking documents in hopes of getting federal government jobs.
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