The Six Million Dollar Railgate Pay-Off...How Long Did The Gag Order Last?

MoveAlongFolksNothingToDiscuss
HereVille

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Update, Wednesday Afternoon....Bob Mackin, on the Twittmachine, says there are more Docs coming...Personally, I would be most interested in reading more wiretap transcripts...
Double Secret Probation Update, Later Wednesday...Mackin has minutes of BC Rail Board Mtg minutes from 2003/04 (deal went down in fall of 2003)...They're heavily redacted...He doesn't have them up at his place yet...

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Last night, based on a report from Global TV's Jas Johal, we further established what we who have been paying attention already knew...

Which is that the BC Liberal Government offered Mr. David Basi and Mr. Robert Virk a prior inducement to sign a plea agreement that ended the BC Rail trial on October 18th, 2010 just before former BC Liberal Government Finance Minister Gary Collins, who was also Mr. Basi's former boss, was scheduled to take the witness stand.

Now.

According to a letter from then Assistant Attorney General Richard Fyfe to Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk's lawyers dated October 16th 2010 the prior inducement included:

...(A) complete release from liability, and a complete release of supporting security, for and with respect to repayment of Mr. Basi's and Mr. Virk's indebtedness under the Indemnity Agreements...

Please note the complete absence of the term 'contigent' when referring either to the liability or indebtedness (ie. for monies already loaned to Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk to pay their lawyers) in the passage above.

Why the heckfire does the lack of the term 'contigent' in this context matter?

Well...

We'll return to that matter later when we further discuss the matter of the 'Cabinet Cut-Out' that was invoked by two BC Liberal government appointed civil servants who apparently put together the six million dollar deal, one of whom was then Deputy Finance Minister Mr. Graham Whitmarsh, a very fine fellow who also once worked at Harmony Airlines with Mr. Gary Collins after the latter resigned as BC Liberal  Finance Minister in the wake of the late 2003 Raid on the BC Legislature that served as a prelude to the BC Rail trial,  but if you want to get a little ahead of the game on that one you can have a look at this.

But, for the moment at least, I would like to focus on a second passage from Mr. Fyfe's letter:

"...(E)ach of Mr. Basi, on his own and Mrs. Basi's behalf, and Mr. Virk agrees not to disclose to the media, under any circumstances, anything about the arrangements contemplated in this letter and attachment..."

Now.

After the deal was consumated by the plea agreement on Oct 18th, 2010 there was a massive hew and cry, and many, including then Opposition Leader Carole James, wondered out loud whether or not a gag order was actually part of the thing.

And in the wake of all that, CBC News soon reported that the gag order had been lifted on October 20, 2010, not by Mr. Fyfe, but instead by the second BC Liberal government appointed civil servant involved in the 'Cabinet Cut-Out' described above, a very fine fellow, and then Deputy Attorney General, named David Loukidelis:

"...(Mr) Loukidelis said a letter was sent to counsel for Basi and Virk on Wednesday (Oct 20th, 2010) releasing them from a condition not to publicly discuss the financial matters of the deal..."

Interestingly, the good Mr. Loukidelis released a separate statement on the Cabinet Cut-Out' on the same day, October 20th, 2010, which former BC Liberal Attorney General Geoff Plant subsequently used as the basis to argue that there was no prior inducement for Mess'rs Basi and Virk to plead guilty.

Imagine that!



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