Yesterday On The Dobranos.....

...The Kops Get Keystonian

HowManyWiretapsDoesItTake
ToChangeALightbulbVille

So, the day before yesterday we learned that rival factions within the RCMP were actually fighting over various aspects of BC RailGate including the actions (or not) of various Dobrano Government Ministers and the laundering (or not) of drug money.

But on yesterday's episode of the show we learned that it was not just two factions working on the case but - get this - FIVE!

Here is the CP's Camille Bains' take on the latest storyline:

VANCOUVER (CP) - A Crown lawyer says there were tough challenges impeding the disclosure of information to defence lawyers representing two former B.C. government aides charged with fraud and breach of trust.

Andi MacKay said Tuesday that police were conducting five separate but connected investigations, including one into the sale of Crown-owned B.C. Rail involving former Liberal aides Dave Basi and Bobby Virk.

{Snip}

Court has heard that police began investigating Dave Basi in August 2002 for his alleged involvement in laundering drug money for his cousin Jas Bains. Basi has since been cleared of any charges in that probe.

A related proceeds of crime investigation was also going on around the same time, along with another probe involving Basi's connection to British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve.

Defence lawyer Kevin McCullough has told B.C. Supreme Court that he couldn't understand why some documents connected to the B.C. Rail case are included in the Agricultural Land Reserve file.

MacKay said Tuesday that the reason is that the two cases are related and documents have been included in one or both files depending on their significance.

In the Agricultural Land Reserve case, Basi faces four fraud-related charges for allegedly taking $50,000 from developers so a 700-home project near Victoria could proceed with an application to remove protected farmland from the land reserve.

Police were also conducting an anti-corruption investigation of a police officer who was handed a three-month conditional sentence last December for obstruction of justice.

Const. Ravinder Dosanjh was convicted of counselling his cousin, Mandeep Sandhu, to lie about the origin of $35,000 found at Sandhu's house during an undercover police operation on Dec. 9, 2003.

Leads from the investigation of Sandhu and Dosanjh led the RCMP to execute search warrants on Basi and Virk's legislature offices on Dec. 28, 2003.

The fifth police investigation involved the payment of $20,000 to Basi by the Liberals for two separate "media monitoring" contracts that involved him arranging for people to call radio talk shows to sway public opinion in the party's favour.

Court has heard that Collins allegedly offered a consolation prize to OmniTRAX, one of three bidders involved in the sale of B.C. Rail.

Collins has denied offering such a prize and an e-mail police seized from the lobbying firm Pilothouse Public Affairs Group suggests he didn't offer it to OmniTRAX officials.

Now amongst all that minutae it is important not to stray too far from the major plotlines.

And one of my favorites, especially for it's 'big fish hookin' potential is the last one, which is the so-called 'Consolation Prize'.

Because, don't forget, at the last minute, after the Big Swindle had already gone down, it was the still-pending Roberts Bank Spur sale that got canned.

And that was after the Ledge got raided by the Keystonian ones but before all those Dobrano-Era Ministers started running away.

Stay tuned.......

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