The Basi-Virk-BC Rail Probe May Yield BC's Biggest Scandal Yet.

Why are most media outlets all but ignoring Bornman and his extensive links to both the federal and provincial Liberal governments? And why has one of BC’s top Supreme Court justices refused to release information about two mysterious search warrants connected to the case before the May 17 provincial election? [Or before the Jan. 23 federal election?] The whole story will not likely come out until Bornman testifies against Basi and Virk sometime in 2006, when their trial on allegations of bribery, influence peddling and breach of trust is scheduled to occur. But in the meantime, much is known about Bornman and his pivotal role in the scandal that has rocked two governments. Bornman, 28, is a controversial figure even within the BC and federal Liberal parties, with a chequered past that includes some dubious political activities. Bornman earned his nickname Spiderman after he entered a locked federal Liberal Party office – which contained the BC membership list during the time of the leadership battle between Paul Martin and Jean Chretien – through the ceiling. In 1999, Bornman helped organize a federal Young Liberal convention in Victoria’s Traveller's Inn that turned into a drunken hotel-trashing. The party was sued for $10,000 in damages by owner John Asfar but he settled out of court. Surprisingly, in 2003 Bornman was listed as the registered lobbyist for Asfar's efforts to locate a casino in a Victoria hotel. But in an email to me last year after I reported on Bornman’s lobbying record, Asfar claimed that Bornman never lobbied government on behalf of his company. “Secondly, Eric Bowman [sic] has never lobbied for me or any of my related companies with Government! Not once!!! He was hired by our company to introduce us to a private casino operator in Wells, BC (The Jack O’ clubs Casino operation). ….,” Asfar wrote on March 18, 2004. “He [Bornman] prematurely and proactively registered my company and his company without our consent or any contractual agreement. He was forward marketing himself and anticipated presumptuously that our relationship would expand if he was successful in the introducing us to the casino owners.” But despite these and other controversies, Bornman had created a successful career as a provincial government lobbyist for major corporations. Bornman and Kieran were the registered provincial lobbyists for OmniTRAX, the US-based rail company that was bidding for BC Rail against eventual winner CN Rail and CP Rail, which dropped out of the bidding because of what it said was a "clear breach" of fairness in the process due to other bidders receiving confidential information. In addition to OmniTRAX, Bornman was active in BC government relations as a registered lobbyist for the Employers Forum of BC, the Council of Forest Industries, the Western Canadian Shippers Coalition, the Broe Companies, Inc. (owners of OmniTRAX), the BC Real Estate Association, Famous Players, the Certified General Accountants Association of BC, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, according to the BC government's lobbyist Web site. But Bornman’s lobbying career ended when police executed search warrants on December 28 at the BC Legislature and the homes and offices of some prominent Liberals in connection with an investigation into drug dealing, organized crime, and the BC Rail privatization deal. Police searched the Legislature workspaces of Basi, ministerial assistant to then Finance Minister Gary Collins, and Virk, ministerial assistant to then Transportation Minister Judith Reid, and also searched Basi’s home in Victoria. Another home searched was Bornman’s West End Vancouver apartment, where he ran the Vancouver operation of Pilothouse Public Affairs, the company he ran with former Vancouver Province newspaper columnist Brian Kieran and Jamie Elmhirst, the current president of the Liberal Party of Canada in BC. Another police search came at the home office of Bruce Clark, another federal Liberal executive member in BC and the brother of former Deputy Premier Christy Clark. The allegations against Basi and Virk directly involved Bornman and Clark. The search-warrant "information to obtain" or ITO released by police in September 2004 claimed that Bornman offered Basi and Virk a benefit -- help in obtaining $100,000-plus jobs with the federal Liberal government -- in exchange for obtaining confidential information about the BCRail deals. Count three of the December 21, 2004 indictment against Basi alleges that he: "accepted from a person who has dealings with the government rewards, advantages and benefits being money, meals, travel and employment opportunities without having received consent in writing of the head of the branch of government of which he is an official, contrary to Section 121 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code." A similar allegation is made against Virk. Bruce Clark, according the heavily-censored police ITO, was believed to be in possession of information obtained from Basi regarding the sale of BC Rail's Port Subdivision at Roberts Bank, another privatization deal worth between $70 million and $100 million. OmniTRAX was also a bidder for the Port Subdivision. BC Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon cancelled the sale after the RCMP said an ongoing criminal investigation revealed that the process was tainted by "advisors" to a bidder obtaining confidential information. The sworn ITO statement by Victoria RCMP Corporal Andrew Cowan states that: “I believe that Clark received documents pertaining to a Request for Proposal and presentations regarding Roberts Bank. I believe that Clark has had meetings with Basi and received these documents from Basi.” www.bcpolitics.ca/left_spiderman.htm

Note: www.bcpolitics.ca/left_...