Duration: 1:06

832 views

3

Victoria police assist RCMP in moving seized evidence during a raid on the offices of the finance and transportation ministers at the B.C. Legislature in December 2003.
Photograph by: Bruce Stotesbury file, Victoria Times ColonistThe lengthy B.C. Rail corruption trial took a turn for the worse Thursday for Premier Gordon Campbells Liberal government. The trial was rocked by a revelation that e-mails written by the premier were ordered destroyed during the May election campaign. The trial heard of an affidavit from high-ranking government worker Rosemarie Hayes stating that at the beginning of May her department ordered the destruction of backup tapes of e-mails — the only remaining copies of the original e-mail correspondence — written prior to May 2004. If carried out, the order referred to by Hayes — the director of messaging and collaboration services with Workplace Technology Services (WTS) — would have destroyed crucial executive-branch e-mails, including exchanges between the premier and his closest staff. The e-mail bombshell prompted the NDP to demand that a special prosecutor be appointed with a mandate to investigate possible criminal obstruction of justice in the case. The premiers e-mails are the inner circle of government, said Leonard Krog, the NDP's attorney-general critic. Everyone in government was aware that this was the ticking time-bomb. Krog said the order violated the governments own policies for information management and information technology management. The government manual outlines the following under the title Disclosure Requirements for Legal Proceedings:

1. Ministries must list all relevant records in their custody or control under the attorney generals discovery of documents.

2. Government records destruction schedules must be suspended during court orders for demand of discovery.

Krog said those policies were obviously abandoned, even though a court hearing the B.C. Rail corruption case ordered all relevant documents be released two years ago.

In 2007, a court order was made for the relevant documents, said Krog. Everyone in government would have known the importance of those documents relevant to the B.C. corruption scandal trial.

If theres a court case, you cant destroy public records.

It smells.

The B.C. Rail sale to CN Rail was the subject of a raid on the legislature in 2003, and has remained a black mark on Campbells record through two successful re-election campaigns. The criminal trial into fraud and corruption charges against ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk continues.

Premier Campbell told reporters in Victoria Thursday that he could not comment because the case is before the courts.

Im not responding to allegations made in the court — anything having to do with this, Campbell said. The government followed the law.

Im glad to have whatever takes place in the court take place, get to the bottom of it, and then everyone will know what took place. The issues are before the courts.

Attorney-General Mike de Jong also declined comment because of the ongoing court case.

The two main defence lawyers in the case have argued before Justice Elizabeth Bennett that Basi and Virk were following orders from their superiors in their dealings with CN Rail over the sale of B.C. Rail.