DRUG SQUAD RAIDED HOME OF B.C. AIDE

Sought Evidence Of The Proceeds Of Crime, Station Said, Citing Police Sources

VANCOUVER -- The Dec. 28 search at the home of legislative aide David Basi
was conducted by members of the RCMP's drug squad, CTV News reported last
night.

Citing police sources for what it called "exclusive details" of the search
warrant used to gain access to Mr. Basi's home in Victoria, the local
affiliate of the television network said the RCMP was looking for evidence
of the proceeds of crime.

Police also raided Mr. Basi's legislative office, along with the offices
and homes of a number of other individuals, including fellow legislative
aide Bob Virk and several key officials with the federal Liberal Party in B.C.

Mr. Basi was provincial Finance Minister Gary Collins's top ministerial
assistant, until the governing Liberals fired him shortly after the raids.
Mr. Virk, chief aide to provincial Transport Minister Judith Reid, was
suspended without pay.

Details of the search warrants have remained sealed since the raids, which
have nevertheless plunged the province into yet another whirlpool of
political turmoil.

Police have said only that the raids were part of a continuing
investigation into an organized crime drug and money-laundering operation.
But media reports this week said the raids are also believed to have been
prompted by a subsequent police investigation into possible breach of
public trust violations.

The RCMP today will start to get access to highly confidential government
documents seized in the investigation.

The documents -- about 30 box loads -- have been treated like top-secret
material since police confiscated them.

The Supreme Court of B.C. was told yesterday that a protocol has been
worked out to ensure that police can see the files without violating
cabinet privilege, or solicitor-client privilege, that may cover some of
the documents.

It is not known what is in the documents, which are in the Supreme Court
registry, but the contents are potentially so sensitive, the intrusion of
police into government affairs so rare, that lawyers spent weeks working
out how they should be handled.

Under the protocol, approved by Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm,
George Copley, a provincial government lawyer, will review the documents to
determine if any of the material is privileged.

Mr. Copley -- who agreed not to disclose the contents to anyone other than
the court -- will review the documents under the direction of a criminal
trial co-ordinator, and with an exhibits officer observing.

Judge Dohm will review material deemed to be privileged.

The guidelines state that if Judge Dohm feels privileged documents are
relevant to the police investigation, he will submit them to Joy Illington,
deputy cabinet secretary, for a second review.

If privilege is asserted, Judge Dohm will make a final determination after
hearing from the Department of Justice and William Berardino, a special
prosecutor appointed by the province.

The document review is to start today and should be completed by the
weekend, David Harris, a lawyer with the special prosecutor, told court
yesterday.

"In view of the nature of this exercise, I take it that transparency is the
operative word," Judge Dohm told the lawyers who worked out the protocol.

But transparency continues to be a problem for the court. It must weigh
cabinet's right to protect confidential information, but police must be
allowed to investigate. Also being weighed are the rights of innocent
people to privacy, versus the media's role in serving the public interest.

Yesterday, Judge Dohm asked media lawyers to return to his courtroom next
week when he will rule on whether they can have the search warrants being
handled by the Department of Justice and dealing with a drug investigation.

Johannes Van Iperen, of the Federal Prosecution Service, told court the
RCMP no longer have concerns about unsealing five search warrants from two
files that deal with drugs and drug proceeds.

Michael Skene, a lawyer for The Globe and Mail and CTV, urged Judge Dohm to
release the federal search-warrant material as soon as possible.

Mr. Skene said it is important to get the facts out because "a maelstrom of
speculation . . . wild tangents of information" are being spread.

Police have released little information about either the drug case, or the
subsequent money-laundering investigation that led to searches at the
legislature, shaking both the provincial government and the federal Liberal
Party in B.C.