TALES OF RCMP ANTICS MAY WELL SHATTER CROWN'S CASE

Vancouver -- the Case Against the Principals in a Government
Corruption Trial Is Looking Flimsier by the Day.

And the conduct of our national police force is once again being
called into question. In fact, the actions of the RCMP have laid the
groundwork for a future stay-of-proceedings application by defence
lawyers representing three former political aides charged with
various counts of bribery and influence peddling in connection with
the sale of BC Rail.

In a wide-ranging application for disclosure filed in court on
Monday, lawyers representing Dave Basi, Aneal Basi and Bob Virk said
the RCMP were not forthright with a judge when requesting permission
to wiretap government phones.

According to the application, the RCMP twice had a request to wiretap
ministerial aide Dave Basi's government cellphone turned down by
Provincial Court Judge Ann Erkhe based on parliamentary privilege.
The judge was alerted to the fact it was a government cellphone only
because the address attached to the wiretap application said
Parliament Buildings.

The RCMP decided to try a third time, before Mr. Justice Patrick Dohm
of the B.C. Supreme Court. This time, however, the Mounties did not
put Parliament Buildings in the application, nor did they inform the
judge - despite being told by one of their own lawyers they were
obliged to do so - that Judge Erkhe had turned them down twice
previously, the application said.

Michael Bolton, lawyer for Mr. Basi, said yesterday that he and his
fellow defence lawyers are preparing a detailed Charter application
attacking the validity of the wiretap authorization to intercept
private communication and the validity of the legislature warrant.

Based on the evidence the defence put forward on Monday, it would
seem to have a strong case. And if Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett
throws out the wiretap evidence, the Crown's case against the three
accused will essentially crumble.

Beyond the wiretap evidence, the Crown's case rests largely on the
shoulders of its star witness, Eric Bornmann.

Mr. Bornmann was a lobbyist for a Victoria-based consulting firm
called Pilothouse. One of Mr. Bornmann's clients was Omnitrax Inc., a
U.S. firm that in 2003 was bidding on the BC Rail line being
auctioned off by the provincial government.

The Crown alleges in the case that Mr. Bornmann paid money and
offered other inducements to Mr. Basi, a former ministerial assistant
in the Ministry of Finance, and Mr. Virk, a ministerial assistant to
the Transportation Minister, in exchange for helping their client in
the bidding process.

Mr. Bornmann has told police the money he paid Mr. Basi was laundered
through his cousin, Aneal, also a government worker at the time.

However, according to court documents the defence filed on Monday,
Mr. Bornmann also told police that Vancouver businessman Bruce Clark
offered Mr. Basi bribes in connection with tax relief the government
offered the beer industry a few years ago. Mr. Clark represented
Pacific Western Brewery.

However, police thoroughly investigated this allegation and found it
groundless. It is highly likely, therefore, that Mr. Clark could end
up being called as a material witness for the defence and used to
shred Mr. Bornmann's credibility.

In the unlikely event this case goes to full trial - so far Judge
Bennett has heard only pretrial applications - it's likely that
former finance minister Gary Collins will also end up in the witness box.

The defence alleges Mr. Collins authorized a "consolation prize" for
Omnitrax if the company agreed to stay in the bidding process for BC
Rail to help drive up the price. That consolation prize was said to
be a spur line to the Roberts Bank coal port.

Mr. Collins issued a flat denial yesterday that he did any such
thing. But the fact that Mr. Basi has seemingly turned on his former
boss and dragged him into this whole mess is significant.

The defence will now argue that the wiretap conversations the Crown
has in which Mr. Basi is lobbying hard on Omnitrax's behalf - in
exchange for the money he was allegedly being paid by Mr. Bornmann -
were merely the words of a ministerial assistant doing the bidding of
his boss, the finance minister.

Beyond that, the defence is also likely to argue that keeping
Omnitrax in the bid process was a good thing for taxpayers. By some
estimates, having the U.S. firm stick around when other bidders left
because they felt the cards were stacked in favour of the eventual
bid winner, CN Rail, helped drive the final price up by as much as
$300-million.

But again, this case may never make it that far. If the judge throws
out the wiretap evidence on constitutional grounds, the Crown has no case.

And the questionable antics of the RCMP will be largely to blame.