Two people connected to former solicitor-general Kash Heed face seven charges that were announced today, related to last May's provincial election. Barinder Sall faces six charges while Satpal Johl faces one charge. The charges against Sall, Heed's campaign manager, include three criminal charges: two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of destroying or altering a book to defraud. The other four charges, which are less serious, include one count of an election financing offence against Johl and three charges against Sall — two counts of impeding or obstructing an election official and one count of an election advertising offence. Heed announced April 9 he was stepping down as solicitor-general after being told by the RCMP commercial crime squad that he was a target of their investigation into possible campaign finance violations. Heed won the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview last May by just 748 votes over NDP rival Gabriel Yiu.
----------
CBC News Former solicitor general cleared of wrongdoing May 3, 2010 2:32 PM
Charges have been laid against the campaign manager and the financial officer for former solicitor general Kash Heed's 2009 election campaign. Barinder Sall, Heed's campaign manager, faces six charges, three of which are criminal, including two counts of obstruction of justice. Sall also faces three charges under B.C.'s Elections Act, including one count of illegal election advertising. Satpal Johl, Heed's financial officer, faces charges under the Elections Act in relation to election financing. The charges stem from anti-NDP campaign flyers circulated in Heed's riding of Vancouver-Fraserview and in Vancouver-Kingsway and Vancouver-Kensington during the campaign for the May 2009 provincial election.
Heed was cleared of any wrongdoing in the affair, said Neil MacKenzie of the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch. "Mr. Heed was not charged with anything," MacKenzie said. "The special prosecutor concluded there was no evidence he was involved in the production of the pamphlets [or] had direct knowledge of the pamphlets." The Chinese-language mail-outs accused the New Democrats of planning to legalize heroin and cocaine and said the party would also consider bringing in an inheritance tax. Heed resigned his cabinet post in April after revealing he was part of an RCMP investigation involving election irregularities.Heed said at the time that he knew nothing about the contentious pamphlets.
No comments:
Post a Comment