RCMP wiretaps of the B.C. Legislature captured high-ranking political officials discussing asking Mayor Ian Sutherland to participate in alleged media manipulation related to the sale of BC Rail, the B.C. Supreme Court heard Wednesday (May 2).
An RCMP investigation into alleged corruption in the BC Rail deal began in 2003, which included a raid on the B.C. Legislature, and has culminated into a B.C. Supreme Court case against Dave Basi, Bobby Virk and Aneal Basi, which began April 18. On Wednesday, the court heard transcripts of Dave Basi, then assistant to Finance Minister Gary Collins, suggesting that Sutherland call a talk radio show while North Vancouver City Mayor Barbara Sharp - who opposed the privatization of BC Rail - was on the air.
"I wanted to have the mayor of Squamish, who's a good friend of ours, rip Barb Sharp a new ass****. Is that okay?" asked Basi."Absolutely," said Collins.
The pair than went on to discuss Sutherland's involvement on the BC Rail committee, which included mayors throughout the province discussing options for the Crown corporation.
"I talked to the Premier. We want to put Colin Kinsley [mayor of Prince George] and the mayor of Squamish on the committee," said Collins.
"I'm going to call Ian Sutherland at home," said Basi. "Uh-huh," replied Collins.
"Then we're going to arrange calls and rip these guys up good," said Basi.
"Okay but don't tell Sutherland because it's the Premier who's going to call," said Collins.
Sutherland said he doesn't remember being asked to participate in media manipulation, would not have participated had he been asked, and added that he's never discussed BC Rail with BC Premier Gordon Campbell.
"I must've missed that call," said Sutherland. "There was no collusion with the Premier of B.C. I've spoken to him not that many times over a number of years but certainly not for anything like this. The committee involved every mayor along the corridor. So it wasn't like it was hand-picked. And he gave all the mayors a heads-up 10 minutes before he made the announcement to the press conference [on the sale of BC Rail]."
The abbreviated wiretapped transcript was read out by Michael Bolton, Basi's co-counsel, as part of his defence. Last week Basi's lawyer Kevin McCullough suggested that Campbell was aware of Basi's phone calls to radio stations and that it was all part of a campaign to manipulate the sale of BC Rail and the transfer of lands.
