RCMP PAID FOR MOLE IN LAWYER'S OFFICE

Agent Also Told His Police Handlers Of Threat To Kill Judge

A botched RCMP probe into an Asian crime cartel described as so powerful
that it could dictate the street price of heroin in North America was
plunged into new controversy yesterday.

Just days after a judge blasted police for their handling of wiretaps in
the multimillion-dollar investigation while tossing out heroin-importation
charges against 10 accused members of the crime group, a Victoria lawyer is
calling for an inquiry into the tactics employed by police in the case.

The shocking new allegations are that the Mounties paid an agent to listen
in on conversations between Victoria lawyer Tom Bulmer and his client,
breaching one of the most important cornerstones of the justice system --
attorney-client privilege.

The agent then reported the conversations to his RCMP handlers.

The Mounties paid the agent $140,000 upfront to settle his debts and he was
put on their payroll for $2,500 a month, Bulmer said yesterday.

Among other things, the agent told police about what he said was a plan by
a member of the crime group to assassinate a provincial court judge, a
Crown counsel, a defence lawyer and an RCMP officer.

The RCMP took the threats seriously and mounted an operation to protect the
targets last year but no one was charged.

"It was a cruel hoax perpetuated by the rogue agent who took the RCMP for
an expensive ride," said Bulmer.

"You do not put a live bug in a lawyer's office . . . This is probably the
grossest violation of solicitor-client privilege that has ever occurred in
Canada.

"Further, they did this against the advice of their own lawyer."

Bulmer is considering filing complaints with the RCMP Public Complaints
Commission and raising the matter with the B.C. Law Society.

The controversial use of the agent is the latest criticism to hit the
complex investigation against the crime cartel, which police hailed as one
of the most significant successes against an Asian-based cartel operating
in Canada.

When announcing the bust in 1999, police said the crime syndicate was
involved in contract killings, credit-card forgery, heroin importation and
the extortion of at least 200 Asian schoolkids in the Lower Mainland.

They claimed the group used underground banks in Bangkok and Hong Kong and
that its tentacles reached around the world.

Of the 28 people police named in 1999 as part of the conspiracy, only 10
were named in the heroin-importation charges which were thrown out last
week by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dean Wilson.

The judge said RCMP improperly obtained authorizations for wiretaps and
then misused them: ". . . the admission of the evidence would bring the
administration of justice into disrepute," he wrote.

The Crown is appealing his decision.

Yesterday, Bulmer said one of the 10 accused became his client after being
introduced to him by the police agent, who is now in the RCMP
witness-protection program.

According to previously sealed court documents, the police agent sat in on
meetings between Bulmer and the client. He then reported details of the
meetings to his RCMP handlers.

"He had access to my client's files and participated in strategy sessions,
all the while reporting to the RCMP," said Bulmer.

He said the agent began telling police "fantastic stories" of how the
client was going to do harm to a number of people, including a judge.

"To prove he was telling the truth, he tipped the RCMP that a number of
people were following police officers with walkie-talkies. The police did
counter-surveillance and observed young men with walkie-talkies following
unmarked police vehicles.

"Later on, three of the young men with walkie-talkies said they were hired
by the police agent. The police agent apparently talked a couple of
teenagers into going on an adventure with walkie-talkies which he supplied.

"He paid them in gas money and cigarettes. He tips off the police who see
this activity and in turn believe his story."

The RCMP contended in court documents that the client was the target and
not Bulmer and that they did not plan to use anything from the agent that
would violate solicitor-client privilege.

Bulmer, on learning about the police agent, filed an abuse-of-process
application that was heard last spring by Victoria Supreme Court Justice
Frederick Melvin.

The judge concluded that police had received "privileged information."

"In addition, it appears that the police misunderstood the [RCMP lawyer's]
legal advice and proceeded as if solicitor-client privilege was not a problem."

The judge said the disclosure of the information obtained at Bulmer's
office by the police agent was a violation of that privilege.

However, the judge did not grant Bulmer a stay of proceedings for his
client, saying that if the Crown did try to use the police agent as a
witness in the trial the evidence could be excluded.

Bulmer said while he was disappointed with the ruling, the way police
handled the investigation has ultimately led to all the charges being
thrown out.

"To date, no one from the RCMP has contacted me with any concern over what
the agent did or how they handled matters . . . not even the courtesy of an
apology for violating my office."

RCMP spokeswoman Const. Danielle Efford would not comment on the
allegations, noting the case is under appeal.