RCMP Watch

Camille Bains, Canadian Press

The RCMP deceived the public by connecting the evils of organized crime and drugs in British Columbia to a raid on the provincial legislature even though two former government aides whose offices were searched had nothing to do with such crimes, a lawyer says.

Kevin McCullough told B.C. Supreme Court yesterday that the Mounties’ actions were part of a concerted effort to spin the raid to make it appear that his client and a co-accused were somehow involved with the province’s $6-billion-a-year marijuana industry.

His client, Bobby Virk, and Dave Basi, were simply fodder for the RCMP, who used the news conference after the Dec. 28, 2003, raid for their own “selfish” means to get more funding for organized crime investigations, he said.

He called that a “tragic erosion of a fair trial” for the former political operatives facing charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting money and other benefits related to the sale of B.C. Rail in November, 2003.

Mr. McCullough quoted from an internal RCMP document of Dec. 22, 2003, on how news conferences on the matter would be staged.

“Opportunities will be sought to leverage public attention to organized crime by the execution of the search warrants” on the legislature, the document states.

At the news conference, Sergeant John Ward of the RCMP’s E division told reporters that nine people had been arrested in Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto in connection with a 20-month drug investigation code-named Project Everywhichway.

He said the arrests were connected to B.C.-grown pot being exchanged for cocaine and sold to people across the country.

Sgt. Ward described organized crime “like a cancer on the social and economic well-being of all British Columbians” and said it was related to murders, beatings, extortion, money laundering and other activity which touches many innocent lives.”