MINISTER'S ASSISTANT, 7 OTHERS CHARGED WITH DRUG OFFENCES

Investigation Of David Basi Led To The 2003 Raid At The Legislature

A former assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins and another man
connected to the federal Liberals are among eight people charged
Wednesday with drug trafficking offences involving marijuana and cocaine.

Udhe Singh (David) Basi was fired from his $67,000 job immediately
after a police raid on his legislature office last Dec. 28, when the
public first became aware of the drug investigation.

He has been charged with production of marijuana and possession of
marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Police allege the offences
occurred between March and December last year.

Last December, police raided a marijuana-growing operation in a
Vancouver Island home owned by Basi that was rented to tenants. Basi's
lawyer said at the time that his client was unaware that pot was being
grown in the home.

Basi has been a strong supporter of Prime Minister Paul Martin and
worked as an organizer for Martin's leadership campaign. Also charged
with conspiracy to traffic marijuana are Jaspal (Tony) Singh and
Mandeep Sandhu.

Sandhu is a cousin of Victoria police Const. Ravinder Dosanjh, who was
suspended with pay last Dec. 15 in connection with the
investigation.

Sandhu and Dosanjh co-owned a Victoria rental property. Real estate
records list Sandhu's occupation as a courier.

Sandhu's sister is married to Amar Bajwa, another Martin leadership
campaign organizer who now is an aide to Joe Volpe, the federal
minister of human resources. Bajwa was known as one of "Basi's boys."

When Sandhu's home was raided by police last Dec. 9, he was on the
executive of the Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca federal Liberal riding
association, having been hand-picked by Basi at the annual general
meeting Dec. 7. He was later disqualified because he wasn't a Liberal
party member.

Sandhu's sister is married to Amar Bajwa, an adviser to federal
Liberal minister Joe Volpe.

In Ottawa, Premier Gordon Campbell said he's looking forward to the
case being resolved.

"Everyone's innocent until they're proven guilty. This has obviously
been a very difficult thing for Mr. Basi and you know, I am like
everyone else. I'd like the matter to be resolved.

"I've said all along if charges should be laid they should be laid.
They should be prosecuted and if guilt is found then punishment should
be meted out."

Also charged Wednesday with conspiracy to traffic cocaine were John
David Scallon and Michael Timothy Doyle, both in their 30s. Doyle used
to live in the 3400-block of West 10th Avenue in Vancouver and Scallon
lived in an apartment in the 2300-block of York Avenue.

Scallon is also charged with conspiracy to traffic pot between
September and December 2003, along with Jasmohan (Jas) Bains of
Victoria, Brahm Mikol of Toronto and Arianna Blythe Vernon, 25, of
Scarborough, Ont.

Before his arrest Wednesday, Michael Timothy Doyle was already facing
charges in Vancouver on two counts of possession for the purpose of
trafficking.

According to court documents, Doyle and co-accused Bryan Murray
Rutherford allegedly possessed more than three kilograms of marijuana
and an unnamed quantity of psilocybin ("magic" mushrooms) in April
2003 for the purpose of trafficking. Rutherford was also charged with
trafficking marijuana.

Both men were released in 2003 on $1,000 bail and are scheduled to
face trial Oct. 12.

Scallon had been charged in 2001 with two counts of assault and one
count of uttering threats against a woman named Tamara Clark. The
charges were stayed.

The charges laid Wednesday stem from a joint investigation by the RCMP
and Victoria police into cocaine trafficking and marijuana-growing
operations in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.

Police say the investigation continues into alleged money
laundering.

The drug investigation began in the summer of 2002 and led to a
separate breach-of-trust investigation concerning the alleged leak of
government documents to a company that was interested in buying BC
Rail.

The two investigations resulted in police executing search warrants on
the legislature offices of Basi and another aide, Bob Virk, an aide to
former transportation minister Judith Reid. Virk is on paid leave from
his job.

Search-warrant documents released to the media last Friday allege that
Basi obtained documents from Virk to assist OmniTRAX, a Colorado-based
company, with information on the tendering process concerning the
purchase of BC Rail. OmniTRAX was the client of a lobby firm,
Pilothouse Public Affairs Group, whose office was also searched.

Police alleged that Virk and Basi wanted jobs with the federal
Liberals and Erik Bornman, a Pilothouse partner, recommended the two
provincial aides in a list he sent to Mark Marissen, who ran Paul
Martin's leadership campaign in B.C. Marissen is the husband of B.C.
Deputy Premier Christy Clark.

The court documents state that only Basi and Virk are under
investigation for breach of trust.