RailGate Total Recall....How Reliable Are The 'Memos To File'?

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WithWordsVille

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Wednesday Afternoon Update: At the bottom of the post

Thursday Morning Double-Secret Probation Update: At the most bottomless pit of the post

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Alex Tsakumis has started to publish a series of 'Memos To File' which he says were authored by Mr. David Basi between Oct 6, 2003 to Nov 25, 2003 (ie. the period of the run-up to, and the immediate aftermath of, the leasing of BC Rail for 990 years to CN Rail).

Here is what Mr. Tsakumis had to say about the series as pre-amble to his publishing of the first 'Memo' exclusively on his blog yesterday:

"...What you will read is the clearest record we have thus far of how to two key government operatives, Dave Basi and Bobby Virk, it could not have been more clear: The BC Liberal government were running a heavily skewed process whereby BC Rail, an asset that we were promised by Gordon Campbell would never be disposed of, was being sold (990 year lease)...."

The following is a short excerpt from the first 'Memo', dated October 6th, 2003, which very much indicates that, in his own mind at least, the author was working on all aspects of the BC Rail file, both internal and external, at the behest of his political master (ie. the unnamed 'Minister'):

"....The Minister wants me to work closely with Bob Virk to support him with whatever he needs and to use every ounce of political skill I have to keep this egg from cracking. He wants me to leverage every relationship I have with the various players and their representatives for this purpose....."

Now, that is potentially very powerful stuff from a single, if self-interested, source.

Further, it is my opinion that Mr. Tsakumis makes a compelling case, and provides evidence in the form of a reputable lawyer's signed witnessing and notarizing of the memos, that they may have actually been written by Mr. Basi.

And I'm sure they will make for most interesting reading over the days to come as Mr. Tsakumis roles them out in a series.

Interesting, for all sorts of reasons, including, perhaps, because, as Mr. Tsakumis suggests, they could have serious implications for the BC Liberal Party Leadership candidates as the race moves forward if, and dare I suggest it, only if, they can be verified by a second independent source, or sources.

However.

Even if they were, indeed, written by Mr. Basi and their major relevations can be confirmed independently, I believe that it is important to ask yourself the following question as you read the memos.

Which is the following.....

Is Mr. Basi a reliable narrator - even of his own memos?

For example, here is the RCMP summary of a wiretapped phone conversation that took place between Mr. Erik Bornman the former lobbyist who has admitted to bribing Mr. David Basi, via payments to the latter's cousin, Mr. Aneal Basi. Importantly, this conversation apparently took place on December 9th, 2003, which was two weeks after the BC Rail mainline deal with CN Rail went down:

"....The telephone call was between Dave BASI and Erik BORNMAN. They discuss Aneal BASI. BASI asks "Aneal's thing'll be starting up again this month, right?" BORNMAN says that "we were gonna have a chat about that, right?" BORNMAN says that "he hasn't forgotten" and that BASI "shouldn't feel bad about reminding him". BASI says "hopefully the reminders will get bigger and bigger in the future" to which BORNMAN replies "yes, um"......

Again.

The above is a police summary of a wiretapped conversation they say took place on Dec 9th, 2003 (it can be found under point #33, part b., in Warrant #1, here) and it took place AFTER the BC Rail deal with CN Rail was announced publicly on Nov 24th, 2003.

So.

What Minister, pray tell, was still telling Mr. Basi to "leverage every relationship" he had with "various players and their representatives" for what purpose after the deal had, at least based on what we have been told (eg. see the agreed 'Statement of Facts' from the plea deal that abruptly ended the trial) already gone down?

And seek non-governmental compensation for said leveraging?

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Update, Wednesday Dec 15th, 4pm: Mr. Tsakumis has just published Memo #2 in which the author alleges that he was told, explicitly, by the unamed 'Minister' that it would be OK to pass along the BC Rail Roberts Bank 'Port Subdivision Request For Proposals' to outside interests....Importantly, an admission that this document (without any admission or allegation of ministerial blessings) was passed to Mr. Bruce Clark was included in the 'Statement of Facts' (see point #13, part a., here) that were part of the recent plea deal struck between Mr. David Basi and Mr. Robert Virk and the Special Prosecutor Mr. William Berardino (and blessed by both the Attorney General's office and the Finance Ministry) that suddenly ended the Railgate trial in October of this year before any former Ministers of the government of Mr. Gordon Campbell could testify under oath, with cross-examination.....

And, just in case you were wondering....Yes, the good Mr. Tsakumis is still taking shots at fellow(?) bloggers for being lazy, dupes, or worse...

Double-Secret Probation Update, Thursday Dec 16th: This post has been edited in an effort to ensure that any specific claims against specific named actors made at other websites that have not been verified independently have not been wurlitzered here....OK?...As for Bob Mackin and the fine folks running 24 Hrs....Well, it would appear that, either they have independent verification or, they are not quite as careful as a lowly F-Troop list blogger...

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