JUDGE GIVES FIRST INSIGHT INTO B.C. POLICE RAID

VANCOUVER -- An RCMP drug investigation that is linked to a sensational
police raid on the British Columbia Legislature involves two separate
criminal organizations.

A summary of the drug case, released yesterday by Associate Chief Justice
Patrick Dohm of the B.C. Supreme Court, provides a first, sketchy overview
of a highly secretive file that last December led police to the legislative
offices of two ministerial aides.

It reveals that the police have seized -- from unnamed individuals --
cocaine, marijuana and cash that is believed to be the proceeds of crime.

The police have also obtained "documentation relevant to drug trafficking
schemes and linking some of the parties and other evidence implicating some
of the parties in drug dealing activities," the summary states.

Media lawyers who have been trying for months to pry open about a dozen
sealed search warrants complained that the summary was so skimpy that it
was almost meaningless.

"This summary is not much of anything. A [vague] collection of words
really," Roger McConchie, lawyer for CTV and The Globe and Mail, complained
in court.

Judge Dohm nodded to acknowledge the criticism but didn't offer to be more
forthcoming about the drug investigation that police are conducting
parallel to a politically explosive influence-peddling investigation.

Last Dec. 28, police searched the offices of David Basi, an aide to Finance
Minister Gary Collins, and Robert Virk, an aide to Judith Reid, who was
then transportation minister.

The two men were involved in many government initiatives, including the
$1-billion sale of BC Rail to Canadian National Railway Co.

Police initially said they went to the legislature pursuing a
money-laundering investigation that flowed from a drug case.

The Crown later said the legislature was raided because investigators
suspected two individuals, identified only as Official 1 and Official 2,
had been offered or had taken bribes to trade in secret government information.

In addition to the offices of Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk, the police also
searched in December the Vancouver offices of Erik Bornman, then
communications director of the B.C. chapter of the federal Liberal Party,
and Bruce Clark, brother of deputy premier Christy Clark and main
fundraiser for B.C. federal Liberals.

No individuals are named in the police summary and it is not explained how
the drug case relates to the legislature searches .

The RCMP summary states: "None of the persons suspected of being involved
in either the cocaine or the marijuana offences are elected officials. Nor
is it alleged that drug trafficking was taking place at the legislature."

The summary notes that from May, 2002, until last December, members of the
Vancouver Island drug section were investigating two separate drug groups.

One group, "made up of approximately seven persons residing in Victoria,
the Lower Mainland or Toronto, has been jointly involved in trafficking
kilos of cocaine in the Lower Mainland and between British Columbia and
Ontario."

The second group "made up of three or more persons has been actively
involved in trafficking marijuana in Victoria and the Lower Mainland."

Outside court, Peter Hogg, senior counsel for the Federal Prosecution
Service, said he hopes to be in a position by June 3 to decide whether to
lay charges.

Mr. Hogg said the summary, which was just over two pages long, was
condensed from "hundreds of pages" of information filed by police to
support applications for search warrants.