Thursday, December 16, 2010

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

EveryWhichWay
WithWordsVille

______

Wednesday Afternoon Update: At the bottom of the post
Thursday Morning Double-Secret Probation Update: At the most bottomless pit of the post
______


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?


_____
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...

.

16 comments:

Dana said...

Ross, criminal activity of any and all kinds will be tolerated if it means the BC Liberals remain in office. By the media, by the police and by the courts. Courtiers, bodyguards and enablers.

Because if it should ever come to pass that any fully empowered enquiries are called into their dealings all three aforementioned entities will quite likely be found to be collusive.

paul said...

I don't know what to make of the memos to file and will read them with some skepticism.
But the search warrant information offers a useful, alarming perspective. If Erik Bornman paid bribes for other favours, as he apparently told police, what were the favours? Who benefited?
And did anyone ask him if he had bribed anyone else?
There is an underlying issue here around the new wave of political operatives moving between political jobs in government, campaign posts and lobbying gigs.
Not just provincially - even more federally. Look at this story. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/conservative-aide-leaked-budget-files-to-friends-hed-tapped-for-jobs/article1837236/
I feel a column coming on.

RossK said...

Ahhhhh Dana, I don't know what to say that.

Me, I still hold out hope that, when folks are truly well-informed and are able to call a demonstrable falsehood what it truly is, we will be OK in the end

_______
Paul--

Clearly, I too am skeptical....especially of the motives of the memo writer.

_____

Hey folks.....

Help me out.

Does anybody remember when, precisely, the good Mr. Erik Bornman started adding the 2nd 'n' to his surname?

Thanks


.

North Van's Grumps said...

The problem I'm having with these memos, even with the fact that they've been Witnessed, is that it doesn't "sound" like Dave Basi. eg..... "The Minister wants to make his PG trip tomorrow productive and fruitful. We have already let people know he is coming and he wants to hear from the community and its representatives. He wants me to advise our friends that this is their chance to play a positive role in the process......"

Is it time to create a timeline, a calendar, of just where the Minister was when all of this was going down?


The Legislative Assembly Library is a starting point, newspapers, BLOGS.....

http://search.leg.bc.ca/search?q=Gary+Collins+October+2003&site=inter_all&btnG=Search&client=legislative_assembly&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=legislative_assembly&filter=0

Grant G said...

They don`t pass the smell test...Especially since Basi was already taking bribes for years.

These memos appear to me...To be something a high priced legal defence team would come up with...

I will withhold judgement for now..

Interesting that AGT is still attacking other bloggers without cause..???

Anonymous said...

CC says "case closed" - nice bit of video from 'A Channel'.

Move along bloggers, nothing to see here.

Anonymous said...

"I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of Gordon Campbell's former Finance Minister, Gary Collins, being thrown under the bus in the Railgate courtroom last week.

And in my opinion the deed was done by Premier Gordon Campbell's current chief-of-staff, Mr. Martyn Brown.

This potential mangling of former Minister by undercarriage occurred during an exchange between David Basi's lawyer Michael Bolton and Mr. Brown that involved the so-called the 'Consolation Prize' that was supposed to have been given to OmniTRAX, the American RailCo that was allegedly paying Eric Bornmann and, presumably, his associates to bribe Mr. Basi et al."

June 18, 2010 http://pacificgazette.blogspot.com/2010/06/railgate-round-upthe-flinging-of-former.html

Anonymous said...

If the payments were part of a regular, ongoing, all purpose access fee, why would the December 9th date, coming after November 24th deal announcement, be any sort of problem in terms of the content of the memo to file?

Anonymous said...

RossK,

I am back online , finally, after so long without a computer at my disposal following a MVA that took out some power poles, that resulted in a massive surge, that took out my power source and consequently, my mother board.

Unluckily for Kevin Falcon,I keep all my research backed up in two separate locations.. and I am back on board tonight, rigging all my stuff so I can get back in the game!

Interesting indeed, these Basi files... for they seem to have taken all the huff and fluff away from Falcon's Northern Prosperity agenda. Clark would never make leader, we all know it,"Machine Gun" Falcon is a menace to everything we hold dear,and while I clearly hold the BC rail debacle close to heart- regular readers know where my loyalty lies-the timing of the release of these files is certainly interesting. From what I can see, little attention in the grand scheme of things has been paid to Falcon's plans... leaving the way clear of a Christy Clark mess and a Falcon win...

Something to think about...

We have all known for some time with the evidence that already exists, that an inquiry was needed. Yvette wells anyone?
http://lailayuile.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/reality-is-easy-its-deception-thats-the-hard-work-lauryn-hill/

RossK said...

OK, I'll get serious in a moment, but....

To have someone quote my own words to me, on one my own threads....

Ha!

.....

Grant G said...

Point #13.part b.....Not part (a) but part b....Part B which was found at Bruce Clark`s home was dated October 14th/2003

How did that get to Bruce Clark`s home, the second memo to file is dated Oct14 2003....Point 13) part b documents had the date Oct14/2003....

Completed documents delivered on the same day to Bruce Clark as the second memo to file was dated...Fast delivery!

Also, memo`s to file using quotation marks, exclamation points?, .....Did he send these to a lawyer by fax or person for notarization...

Did Basi make 30 separate trips to the notary?

Sorry Ross K....Wiki leaks of the north...I am sortta puzzled, enlighten me please.

kootcoot said...

Alex the A**hole's gratuitous slagging of others, reaching unfathomable depths of fabrication to do so, devalues the very work his arrogant and self serving self claims to be trying to accomplish.

He continues to slag me and make up stuff out of whole cloth even though I don't bother to participate in the cesspool of self congratulation and fawning sycophants that is his comment board. But with the crap your link in your piece made me aware of, the A has earned himself another dedicated post at the House of Infamy, when I get the time. I've been mostly out of town so far this week and have more things to do, concerts and other commitments, but I'll get around to it and it won't be pretty.

Grant G said...

Ross K..I have little doubt that the BC Rail bidding(rigged from the git go) was a done deal.

From what I have read in warrants, Basi was being bribed for years(before BC Rail)...

The wire tap evidence also strongly suggests that Basi/Virk and Bornnman were continuing in the {Money for information}Game well after BC Ril deal was finalized.

Basi/Virk MAY have been persuaded by their bosses to play games with the bidding process but...Basi/Virk were already dirty, dirty before, dirty after..

So do we forgive the Bribes, and the offering of bribes on BC Rail ?

When in fact Basi/Virk were playing games before BC Rail/After BC Rail.

Which bribes are forgivable?.....

Kinda like...Someone kills an operative in the CIA on orders from the very top...

But the trigger puller killed many many more on their own accord before and after for pure sport.

For me, the more logical answer is, Basi and Virk were taking bribes for years on everything, BC Rail was no different except for one thing...

They may have been encouraged to play the game for optics

G.W. Andrew said...

Why doesn't someone call this guy, this Victoria lawyer George Jones, Q.C., "whose unimpeachable integrity is without question and whose signature I have verified (AGT)."

CONTACT INFORMATION
Phone: (250) 382-7222
Fax: (250) 382-5436

AGT has not been any help at all over the years. Why would he suddenly turn around and start acting like one of the good guys now--?

Julian Assange is CO-INTEL-PRO; and i'm willing to bet that AGT is our own little version of the same sort of disinformation campaign.

RossK said...

Anon @ 9:27 asked:

"If the payments were part of a regular, ongoing, all purpose access fee, why would the December 9th date, coming after November 24th deal announcement, be any sort of problem in terms of the content of the memo to file?"

My only point here is that, assuming the memo was written by whom it is claimed to be written by at the time it is purported to have been written (in Oct 2003), the fact that the wiretap indicates that the the same person may have been demanding further (and larger) payments in Dec of 2003 after the deal went down strongly suggest that there may have been an aspect of self interest in what was actually entered into the memo, particularly with respect to what was said about where the push for the writer to do what he was doing was originating.

.

North Van's Grumps said...

Oak Bay - Gordon Head Recall campaign info. The registered Canvasser number is going up. The MSM originally pegged the number from anywhere between 150 to 160 on December 7th, as of Wednesday (Dec. 15th) it was 219, its now 224 (Dec. 17th) with February 4th, 2011 as the final day of canvassing.