Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Jody Paterson RAIDS ON LEGISLATURE STILL HAVE US GUESSING No charges have been laid and few details have been provided by the RCMP VICTORIA -- Today marks six months since British Columbians awoke to the startling news of a police raid at the provincial legislature. More than 30 boxes of documents were seized from two legislative offices that day, and close to 100 CDs' worth of information taken from a government computer server. RCMP said suspicions of drug-trafficking and influence-peddling triggered the raid -- but little has been said since. As the first TV crews rushed to the legislature on that quiet Sunday three days after Christmas, seven other search warrants were executed at the homes and offices of prominent organizers in the federal Liberal party. A fevered media, left to come up with their own answers amid veiled comments from the RCMP about the reach of organized crime, would spend the coming weeks turning over every rock for the smallest clue of what was going on. Tens of thousands of words would be written on the raids in the days that followed. But no one ever turned up much. Today the raids remain largely unexplained. And with any criminal charges still months away, the mystery continues. Meanwhile, the men targeted in the raids have carried on with their lives. Dave Basi, a former ministerial aide whose office was raided at the legislature, is picking up a little work in construction. Bob Virk, another aide whose office was searched, has been spotted working at his family's corner store, with his life on hold but still collecting his $5,250-a-month government pay cheque. Victoria police Const. Ravinder Dosanjh has been suspended with pay for months now. Elsewhere in Victoria and Vancouver, other men wait for news: Bruce Clark, a government consultant; Erik Bornmann, also a consultant; Victoria businessman Mandeep Sandhu; and one other unnamed Victoria businessman. "Obviously, Mr. Basi would like to have his name cleared," says lawyer Chris Considine, who represents the aide and Liberal organizer who was fired from his $67,000-a-year job without explanation the day after the raid. "He's been left in limbo, and it has been very difficult on his family. But we have to wait." The saga started more than two years ago when police in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto began investigating drug rings allegedly selling cocaine and marijuana between B.C. and Ontario. The legislature raid was part of the broader investigation, which to date has involved the execution of more than 20 search warrants and the seizure of "large amounts" of cash and drugs. Police were back in court this month seeking more warrants. All that is known for certain is that police learned something during the course of their drug investigation that got them interested first in Sandhu-- whose house was searched and computer hard drive seized Dec. 9 -- and then Dosanjh, suspended from the Victoria police force with pay Dec. 15 for undisclosed reasons. Dosanjh and Sandhu owned property together. Something connected to that brought police to the legislative offices of Basi and Virk, who at the time worked as ministerial assistants to Finance Minister Gary Collins and then-transportation minister Judith Reid, respectively. While tapping the two men's phones in search of evidence of drug involvement, police picked up a conversation about the B.C. Rail privatization deal that sounded to them like influence-peddling and taking favours. That led to raids at the home offices of government consultants Clark and Bornmann, as well as a Victoria accounting office, a consulting firm and a heating-supply store. Federal Liberal organizer Mark Marissen, whose wife Christy Clark is B.C.'s deputy premier, also handed over documents. Vancouver RCMP Sgt. John Ward said last week that nothing about that chronology is official. It's simply the story the media pieced together. Police have released only the sketchiest details. Until the police investigation wraps up in August, prosecutors won't know whether there's enough evidence to lay charges. The Liberal Party of Canada got caught in the media tornado for a while when it was discovered that many of those whose offices were raided were also key Liberal recruiters and devotees of Prime Minister Paul Martin. But stories about rigged nomination meetings and tainted membership lists died away and were all but forgotten by the time Martin called the federal election. The B.C. Liberals have withered in the glare of unwanted media attention. But as cabinet ministers have repeatedly pointed out, police have made clear that drug trafficking did not go on at the legislature, nor has any elected official been implicated. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh