Province negotiated legal-fee deal before Basi and Virk pleaded guilty

Rob Shaw, Timescolonist.com October 20, 2010

Click here to read statement of facts document

 Defence lawyers for Dave Basi and Bob Virk discussed with government whether the men would have to repay millions in legal fees before they pleaded guilty, the province's deputy attorney general confirmed Wednesday.  Two deputy ministers in the B.C. Liberal government ultimately decided to waive fees for both men — despite admissions of criminal activity — leaving taxpayers on the hook for $6 million in legal costs.  As former senior advisors, both Basi and Virk had indemnity deals that they would repay their legal costs unless they were acquitted on all counts, according to a statement released by deputy attorney general David Loukidelis on Wednesday afternoon.  But when special prosecutor Bill Berardino made the B.C. government aware on Oct. 5 that he had proposed to let the two men plead guilty, it fell to the deputy minister of finance, Graham Whitmarsh, and Loukidelis to figure out whether they would actually have to come up with the money, Loukidelis's statement read. "A major consideration was the relatively small amounts that might be recovered from Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk compared to the millions of additional dollars it would cost the government to continue to fund defence, prosecution and court-related costs through to the completion of the trial, and to fund any appeals, with no guarantee of convictions," said Loukidelis. "Based on the above, in our respective capacities the Deputy Minister of Finance and I decided to release Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk from their liability to repay. I communicated that decision to the Attorney General on October 8, 2010. "No one outside the Legal Services Branch, myself and the Deputy Minister of Finance had any knowledge of this or involvement. For clarity, neither the special prosecutor nor the Attorney General had any knowledge of the matter or any involvement in this."Loukidelis's statement appears to contradict Attorney General Mike de Jong, who told reporters Monday that he ultimately signed off on the deal based on recommendations from legal services. Basi and Virk pleaded guilty Monday to accepting bribes from a lobbyist in exchange for confidential information about the bidding process for the freight division of B.C. Rail in 2003.

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