JUDGE AGAIN PUTS OFF MEDIA ACCESS TO SEARCH WARRANTS IN LEGISLATURE RAID

The Vancouver Sun's bid to gain access to search warrant documents related
to the raid on legislative offices in Victoria last December has been put
off for another three months.

The matter was back in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday, when special
prosecutor Bill Berardino told Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm that
disclosure of the material would jeopardize the continuing police
investigation.

The judge granted Berardino's request to adjourn the application for
release of the documents until Sept. 10.

Lawyer Barry Gibson, representing The Sun, pointed out to Dohm that the
position of the special prosecutor at the last hearing in April was that
disclosure would not prejudice the investigation.

Gibson suggested if there was going to be further delay, that he and other
media lawyers be given access to the material with an undertaking that it
not be published.

"I've done that before and it's highly dangerous," the judge said.

Dohm has issued a sealing order on the search warrant documents related to
a two-year investigation involving drugs and money-laundering that led to
the raid of offices in the B.C. legislature last December.

Dohm urged the special prosecutor to be in a position by the next court
date in September to provide material to the media lawyers.

The court earlier released a summary of the drug investigation that
revealed that large amounts of cash, marijuana and some cocaine has been
seized from suspected drug dealers.

"None of the persons suspected of being involved in either the cocaine or
the marijuana offences are elected officials," said the document, which was
released two months ago. "Nor is it alleged that drug trafficking was
taking place at the legislature."

Before that, the judge had released a six-page summary of a related
breach-of-trust investigation involving the $1-billion privatization sale
of BC Rail to Canadian National Railway.

Details released so far indicate that a B.C. government official got caught
up in an RCMP organized crime and drug investigation. A second police
investigation was launched when police suspected a lobbyist had possibly
bribed the official and a second government employee to commit a breach of
trust in relation to the sale of BC Rail.

The public first became aware of the investigation when Victoria police
raided the legislature offices of Dave Basi, an assistant to Finance
Minister Gary Collins, and Bob Virk, an aide to former transportation
minister Judith Reid. Basi was fired a day later and Virk suspended with pay.

The police investigations have not resulted in any charges to date.