It has been brought to my attention that I may have misconstrued the following statement attributed to Bill Berardino, QC, Crown Counsel in the Basi-Virk case – Berardino said outside court that he didn’t see a copy of the agreed statement of facts, signed by the Crown and defence, until 9:40 a.m. — 20 minutes before court was scheduled to resume hearing the testimony of a witness.
Apparently, according to some, what he meant by this is that he had not seen the signed copy and that he did in fact make the deal.
If I misled you, I’m sorry, but I apologize for nothing. If Mr Berardino had meant “I negotiated solely on behalf of the Crown but I didn’t see the actual signatures until the morning at 9:40 why the hell didn’t he say so?
I believe that on the plain words he spoke, my interpretation was the natural one. He spoke of “signed by the Crown” as if it were signed by somebody else than him. If he meant “I signed on behalf of the Crown”, again, why didn’t he say so?
While he accepts sole responsibility for the deal, that scarcely means he negotiated it alone.
If he does say he negotiated it alone – that is without consulting the government – I exercise my right not to believe him. I don’t believe that for two reasons;
1. This was the most notorious court case I can remember going back to and including the BC Electric takeover in the 60s and surely Berardino would understand that the public had a right to know how the deal was done and would have, as experienced counsel, issued a statement that was incapable of more than one meaning.
2. It beggars belief that he didn’t discuss the part of the deal that saw the entire legal tab, including the accused’s legal costs, with a member of the government or an agent of the government before making the deal. At the risk of being redundant, I remind all that we the taxpayers are paying for this.
Whether he spoke to the Attorney-General, the Assistant Deputy Attorney-General, Criminal Justice Branch or anyone else with the authority to throw away $6 million dollars, surely he had to first get their consent and in doing that would surely have to tell them what the entire deal was.
So now we have a new question for Mr Berardino – did you make the deal to forgo over $6 million dollars all on your own?
I must tell you again, if you say that, I don’t believe you.
If you got authority to make that deal you would have had to, obviously, disclose what the government was getting in exchange. That being the case, from whom did you get your authority?
If you wish, I will publish any statement you may have in reply to the same people receiving this and previous mailouts on this matter.
The question of what role the Judge played remains unanswered.
Rafe;
The Basi – Virk affair smells worse than chicken manure and tonight the Van Sun or Gordo’s mouthpiece is saying that “B.C. government negotiated with Basi, Virk before waiving legal fees”
Isn’t this illegal? Isn’t this interfering with the judicial process?
Le’s see, I rob a bank, get caught, plead innocent and the provincial government offers me a greatly reduced sentence for me to plead guilty? It doesn’t make sense, unless Gordo and his cronies were scared to death of something becoming public during the trial.
Where is the judge in all this or is the judge just part of the scam?
It stinks, with an odour i think will last for years.
Then there is brand-X with good old boy Bill Boring chastising anyone who dares say anything is wrong with the trial and its outcome. That whir I hear is Jack Webster spinning in his grave that the great boring has one an award with his name on it.
The public have been taken for fools by Gordo and his mob and for any who care, BC is now the organized crime Capitol of Canada. Hell yes, do a crime and negotiate with the BC Ag for a reduced sentence.
BC, the best place on earth for crooks, con-men and shysters.
… Didn’t see a copy till 20 mintues before the court begins??
BULL$HIT.
One more little thing. Has the BC Government agreed also to pay income tax on behalf of Basi, Virk & Basi? When an employer pays personal legal fees of employees, that is a taxable benefit to the individuals. We can assume that another few million dollars is involved.