Premier Gordon Campbell Alleged To Know Of Paid Media Scam

Kevin McCullough, lawyer for Bob Virk, the former provincial ministerial aide charged with breach of trust and fraud related to the $1 billion B.C. Rail privatization, outlined a litany of activities he alleged involved top government and party officials. Among the new allegations McCullough made: That Premier Gordon Campbell's Press Secretary Mike Morton was involved in directing paid phone callers to talk radio shows as far back as 2002. That Campbell knew of the media manipulations arrangements made with David Basi, the other provincial ministerial aide charged with breach of trust and fraud. That Campbell blew up at B.C. Liberal Party Executive Director Kelly Reichert because Morton had "fucked up" and sat at a fundraising dinner with officials from OmniTRAX, one of the bidders for B.C. Rail, before the contract was awarded. That key Crown witnesses against Basi and Virk -- provincial lobbyists Erik Bornmann and Brian Kieran -- were allowed by the RCMP and Special Prosecutor Bill Berardino to continue their lucrative lobbying business even after disclosing that they had "made serious bribes" to the two aides to obtain government information on the B.C. Rail deal. That the RCMP knew Bornmann had lied to the media when he issued a statement saying he had been cleared of any wrongdoing but did nothing about it, not informing the government of the truth. http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/04/24/MediaScam/ [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on July 23, 2007]

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