BASI PROBE TIED TO DRUGS, BC RAIL DEAL

RCMP Investigate Political Aide For Cross-Border Trafficking And Breach Of
Trust

RCMP are investigating whether ministerial aide Dave Basi was involved in a
cross-border drug-trafficking scheme and breached the public trust in his
handling of the province's privatization of BC Rail, The Vancouver Sun has
learned.

On Dec. 28, RCMP and Victoria police officers raided the offices of Basi,
the ministerial assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, and Bob Virk,
assistant to Transportation Minister Judith Reid.

The raids followed a 20-month drug investigation that resulted in the
mid-December arrest of nine men in Toronto. The identities of those men,
who were questioned and released without being charged, have not been
revealed, but police say they remain persons of interest.

The investigation included telephone wiretaps, which captured conversations
involving Basi and caused police to suspect he might have been involved in
financial aspects of a scheme to trade B.C. marijuana for U.S. cocaine.

Information from the wiretaps led police to investigate whether Basi might
have breached the section of the Criminal Code dealing with breach of
public trust in connection with the privatization of BC Rail.

Information also led them to raid the Victoria and Vancouver offices of
Pilothouse Communications, which represented Denver-based OmniTRAX, one of
four potential bidders for the rail line. Pilothouse's main representative
for OmniTRAX was Erik Bornman.

Basi and Bornman are well acquainted through their mutual efforts on behalf
of the federal Liberal party in B.C., most notably on the Paul Martin campaign.

Bornman is the communications director for the federal Liberals in B.C.

Neither Bornman, Basi nor Basi's lawyer, Chris Considine, could be reached
to comment on Thursday. RCMP spokesman Sergeant John Ward declined to comment.

Information contained in search warrants executed by police remains sealed
despite attempts by lawyers for several media outlets, including The Sun,
to persuade B.C. Supreme Court to release the information.

The raids prompted the government to fire Basi and suspend Virk with pay.
On Wednesday the government revealed that Basi, who earned about $67,000 a
year, will receive severance payments totalling $54,000.

Basi, through his lawyer, has insisted he did nothing wrong and wants his
name cleared.

The government's actions against Basi and Virk followed the Sunday morning
raid on the legislature, in which police seized computers and boxes of
files from their offices.

Police concurrently staged six other raids on homes and offices, including
Pilothouse. They also seized material from the homes of Basi and Virk, and
executed a search warrant on the home office of Bruce Clark, the chief
fundraiser for the federal Liberal wing in B.C.

Clark is the brother of deputy premier Christy Clark, who is married to
Mark Marissen, Martin's top aide in B.C.

Marissen, at the request of RCMP, also provided information from his home
office in Port Moody.

Both Marissen and Bruce Clark say police have assured them they are not the
subject of any investigation and have done nothing wrong.

Police have also said their investigation does not directly involve any
politician.

Basi's role as ministerial assistant to Collins involved coordinating
legislative bills. It also apparently involved the BC Rail file.

In 2002, the government signalled it was considering privatizing the
railway company, which operates a number of northern routes.

Last July, Reid, the transportation minister, revealed that there were four
potential bidders for the freight operations, most notably CN Rail and a
joint venture involving OmniTRAX. The province went ahead with CN in a
$1-billion deal.

It is not clear how Basi's alleged breach of trust relates to the bidding
process.

A spokesman for OmniTRAX, which was represented by Bornman and Pilothouse
colleague Brian Kieran, told The Sun police have not contacted the rail
company for information.

The province's lobbyist registry shows Bornman and Kieran were registered
representatives of OmniTRAX and its affiliate, The Broe Companies.

The registry information indicates they were dealing with the offices of
Premier Gordon Campbell, Collins, Reid, Competition Minister Rick Thorpe,
Deregulation Minister Kevin Falcon and the ministry of energy and mines.

The decision to award the railway deal to CN was controversial.

The Sun earlier reported that Campbell was a week away from signing the
final deal when his office received a sharply worded critique of the
bidding process from Marcella Szel, vice-president for legal affairs for
the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was one of the bidders.

The Liberals were insisting that three bidders were still in the running,
but the CPR had concluded that CN Rail had the inside track.

The letter complained about "a breach of fairness" and a "violation of
intent" in the bidding process for BC Rail.

Szel advised that the CPR was formally withdrawing from the bidding, a move
that left only CN and OmniTrax on the official list.