Thursday, November 27, 2008
Supreme Court of Canada to hear Special Prosecutor appeal to overturn secret witness ruling - will delay trial up to 1 year
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The Supreme Court of Canada today granted the Special Prosecutor leave to appeal two lower BC court rulings regarding testimony of a secret witness in the BC Legislature Raid case.
The decision will likely delay by up to a year the start of the trial of former BC Liberal government aides David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi on corruption charges related to the 2003 privatization of BC Rail.
The central issue is whether defence lawyers for the accused can be present in the courtroom to hear arguments as to whether a secret witness will give testimony in the trial.
The Crown argued that no one but Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino and his legal team and BC Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett should be permitted to hear the evidence, with defence lawyers, media and the public excluded in order to protect the identity of the witness ....
See Bill Tieleman's blog for the full story. Many thanks, Bill.
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The Supreme Court of Canada today granted the Special Prosecutor leave to appeal two lower BC court rulings regarding testimony of a secret witness in the BC Legislature Raid case.
The decision will likely delay by up to a year the start of the trial of former BC Liberal government aides David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi on corruption charges related to the 2003 privatization of BC Rail.
The central issue is whether defence lawyers for the accused can be present in the courtroom to hear arguments as to whether a secret witness will give testimony in the trial.
The Crown argued that no one but Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino and his legal team and BC Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett should be permitted to hear the evidence, with defence lawyers, media and the public excluded in order to protect the identity of the witness ....
See Bill Tieleman's blog for the full story. Many thanks, Bill.
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