Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Court Room 101, the real Dave Basi stands up
So here's the plan: On Thursday, 20 July 2006, I hope to be in Victoria, at 850 Burdett (corner of Burdett & Blanshard) in Court Room 101, where Basi, Young, and Duncan are scheduled to appear in response to criminal charges of bribery.
The three men are facing charges that a $50,000. bribe was allegedly paid by the two real estate developers to Dave Basi for the alleged purpose of influencing the removal of land from British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve -- land which became a 650-house development in Sooke.
This trial is not, so far as I know, connected to the Legislature raids. But it is a first opportunity to hear Dave Basi speak on the subject of Dave Basi. And as we hear the Prosecution's case unfold -- and if the charges are proven in court -- this trial should provide the first split in the shield of silence surrounding the possibility of corruption in governemt. If it shows a pattern -- a modus operendi -- for the way these things happen, we may begin to understand not just the A.L.R. in Sooke, but things like the sell-off of B.C. Rail, the near-loss of Roberts Bank, and much else. We need to know how corruption of public policy can happen.
99.9% of B.C. citizens are innocent of such knowledge. We may guess, or doubt, but who among us knows if Mr Big keeps a suite at the Empress Hotel or at Laurel Point, where he (with diamond ring, cigar, ribald jokes) offers drinks and hints each afternoon at 5:00? Nah, didn't think so. Or if it's a swift "Pssst ... wanna buy a railroad?" whispered in the Legislature corridors. No? Or is it something much more ordinary, like happy talk amongst up-and-coming associates where, having already noted which way the winds are blowing*, idle speculation can turn into cash. Illegal, of course -- for both briber and bribee -- but who's to know?
And that's just it. Citizens know next to nothing about the kinds of serious questions which will be tested in a court of law, once the trials begin.
*Those 32 boxes of files we saw police hauling out of the offices of Basi (Ministry of Finance) and Virk (Ministry of Transportation) suggest that these two top-rank Cabinet ministers' aides were not exactly trying to hide the evidence.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Anyone who sees any mention of these cases in any newspaper or TV, please report the sightings here. To send a message direct to BC Mary, my summer e.mail address is: BCMary@myway.com I'd like to know what people, in general, are saying about the issues surrounding The Legislature Raids.
The three men are facing charges that a $50,000. bribe was allegedly paid by the two real estate developers to Dave Basi for the alleged purpose of influencing the removal of land from British Columbia's Agricultural Land Reserve -- land which became a 650-house development in Sooke.
This trial is not, so far as I know, connected to the Legislature raids. But it is a first opportunity to hear Dave Basi speak on the subject of Dave Basi. And as we hear the Prosecution's case unfold -- and if the charges are proven in court -- this trial should provide the first split in the shield of silence surrounding the possibility of corruption in governemt. If it shows a pattern -- a modus operendi -- for the way these things happen, we may begin to understand not just the A.L.R. in Sooke, but things like the sell-off of B.C. Rail, the near-loss of Roberts Bank, and much else. We need to know how corruption of public policy can happen.
99.9% of B.C. citizens are innocent of such knowledge. We may guess, or doubt, but who among us knows if Mr Big keeps a suite at the Empress Hotel or at Laurel Point, where he (with diamond ring, cigar, ribald jokes) offers drinks and hints each afternoon at 5:00? Nah, didn't think so. Or if it's a swift "Pssst ... wanna buy a railroad?" whispered in the Legislature corridors. No? Or is it something much more ordinary, like happy talk amongst up-and-coming associates where, having already noted which way the winds are blowing*, idle speculation can turn into cash. Illegal, of course -- for both briber and bribee -- but who's to know?
And that's just it. Citizens know next to nothing about the kinds of serious questions which will be tested in a court of law, once the trials begin.
*Those 32 boxes of files we saw police hauling out of the offices of Basi (Ministry of Finance) and Virk (Ministry of Transportation) suggest that these two top-rank Cabinet ministers' aides were not exactly trying to hide the evidence.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Anyone who sees any mention of these cases in any newspaper or TV, please report the sightings here. To send a message direct to BC Mary, my summer e.mail address is: BCMary@myway.com I'd like to know what people, in general, are saying about the issues surrounding The Legislature Raids.
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It's kinda pitiful, isn't it. I really expected to see Dave Basi on July 20 ... and wanted to see him as a real live human person.
Will that ever happen? Is this simply a waiting game, until everybody in B.C. forgets?
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Will that ever happen? Is this simply a waiting game, until everybody in B.C. forgets?
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