EX-OFFICER WHO TOLD COUSIN TO LIE TO POLICE FOUND GUILTY

VANCOUVER -- Ravinder Singh Dosanjh, a former Victoria police officer
whose case is linked to raids on the British Columbia Legislature,
was found guilty yesterday of a charge of willfully attempting to
obstruct justice.

Provincial Court Judge Carol Baird Ellan reserved sentencing, but
said the evidence presented at trial left her with no doubt that in
2003, while he was a constable, Mr. Dosanjh advised his cousin,
Mandeep Sandhu, to lie to police.

The result of that advice, even if not carried out, created the risk
that the course of justice could be obstructed, perverted or
defeated, Judge Baird Ellan said.

Mr. Sandhu called Mr. Dosanjh after Victoria Police Department
investigators searched Mr. Sandhu's house, seizing $30,000 in cash.

Mr. Dosanjh, 40, was a 13-year veteran with the VPD and had spent
time doing undercover drug investigations.

What he didn't know the day his cousin's house was raided was that
police had long had Mr. Dosanjh's phone tapped, as they suspected him
of leaking information to drug dealers in Victoria.

In one taped call, which was entered as evidence, Mr. Dosanjh queries
Mr. Sandhu about what police know, and then tells him to lie about
the source of the cash.

"Get anything?" he asks Mr. Sandhu after learning of the search.

"Yeah, I had some cash."

Mr. Dosanjh: "How much?"

Mr. Sandhu: "Um, a bit over 30."

Mr. Dosanjh: "That's it . . . Is that all your cash or?"

Mr. Sandhu: "Uh, yeah, that's all I had here, right?"

Mr. Dosanjh: "You got, you kept it at home?"

Mr. Sandhu: "I, I, I fuckin' had that here, yeah.

Mr. Dosanjh: "Shit. That's not good . . .You just tell them that
money belongs to, what are you gonna say?"

Mr. Sandhu: "I don't know, I gotta go see a lawyer Thursday morning."

Mr. Dosanjh: "Yeah, um, you could say, like, it belongs to your dad
or something, right? . . . Just cash from the cab or something."

Mr. Dosanjh tells Mr. Sandhu that a mutual acquaintance, Jas Baines,
who police had identified as a suspected drug dealer, had also been
arrested that day. He asks him if there was anything at the house
that would tie him to Mr. Baines, and when he's told there isn't,
returns to the money.

"Okay, well . . . you knew this was coming, right?" he says of the raid.

Mr. Sandhu: "Oh, yeah."

Mr. Dosanjh: "You shouldn't have kept that money at your house,
though . . . Is it all like 20s and stuff?"

Mr. Sandhu: "Uh, there was some different, a couple of piles, right?"

Mr. Dosanjh: "Yeah."

Mr. Sandhu: "I don't know, I'll just say it's my uncle's."

Mr. Dosanjh: "Yeah, well exactly, just say, does Harvinder drive a cab?"

Mr. Sandhu: "Yeah."

Mr. Dosanjh: "Just tell 'em you were saving it for him over the years."

Mr. Sandhu: "All right."

Mr. Dosanjh: "And he's gotta attest to it too, right?"

The call was intercepted, Judge Baird Ellan said, because while
investigating Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Baines, police set up an undercover
investigation of Mr. Dosanjh with the help of the RCMP.

"In my view, the words of the telephone call speak for themselves,"
Judge Baird Ellan said.

Victoria Police have said the investigation into Mr. Sandhu and Mr.
Dosanjh unearthed evidence that led them, on Dec. 28, 2003, to raid
the legislative offices of two ministerial aides, David Basi and Bob Virk.

Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk are facing charges of fraud and breach of
trust, which have not yet come to trial.

No date was given for the sentencing of Mr. Sandhu, who was allowed
to leave court with his family, some of whom embraced him in tears
after the judgment was read.