RailGate Re-Surfacing.....Who Should Have Protected The E-Mails?

WeDon'tNeedNoStinking
MinistryOfInformationRetrievalVille

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Update, July 16/09: New information in this story which indicates that Mr. Copley may have been mistaken regarding the timelines of the destruction of the RailGate Emails have caused me to conclude that the Solicitor General may actually have actively protected them back in 2003 and 2004. If this is indeed the case, my suggestions in this post would be entirely invalid. You can find my mea culpa on this matter here.
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You know, the E-Mails that, according to Mark Hume, writing in the Globe recently, Gordon Campbell's man in court says no longer exist:

.....Two weeks ago, the defence filed an application for the disclosure of the e-mail records of Mr. Campbell, several cabinet ministers and numerous staff, arguing the communications could shed light on whether the accused were acting on their own, or under directions from superiors.

But earlier this week George Copley, a lawyer representing the Executive Council of the B.C. government, told court a search had failed to produce the e-mails sought because the data system keeps backup tapes for only 13 months.....

Well.

Regardless the fact that it is now 2009, one of the accused's lawyers suggests that Gordon Campbell's Solicitor General of the time should have taken care to see that the E-mails were protected as potential evidence as early as the fall of 2003:

....Michael Bolton, who is defending Dave Basi, told court the government should have safeguarded the e-mails because it was evident as early as the fall of 2003 that police were investigating suspicions of fraud surrounding the BC Rail deal.

He said the Solicitor-General was advised of the investigation, and if that didn't make it clear there could be legal action, the dramatic police raid on the legislature certainly should have.

So.

Given all that, what was then Solicitor General, Rich Coleman, actually up to at the time.

Well, we don't know that for sure.

But we do know how he felt about the entire Railgate situation a year later, in the fall of 2004, when the Ledge Raid search warrants were 'finally' made public.

And we know this because of the work of Sean Holman who recorded a media scrum involving Mr. Coleman at that time for posterity:

Media Given some of these very serious allegations, have you had a chance to go back over any of Basi or Virk's other files to see whether everything is up to spec there?

Solicitor General Coleman I'm not going to comment on anything that may have taken place that may be germaine to the investigation or have any impact on it.

Media But seperate files...

Solicitor General Coleman I can't comment on that?

Media Why can't you comment on that?

Solicitor General Coleman Because I'm not involved in that. So I have no information that would lead me to believe that one way or another.

Media Who would be involved with that?

Solicitor General Coleman I don't know. From my standpoint, there's an ongoing police investigation. We're going to allow that investigation and what's before the courts to take place. And we're not going to comment on that.

So there you have it....Sgt. Schultz.....errrrr....Mr. Coleman.....He 'knows nothing!'

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