Crime pays for Vancouver’s Basi-Virk $1 billion Corruption trial

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BC Justice gets Laid!

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uploaded by Barry ORegan

The $1 billion dollar political scandal which rocked the BC Liberals and enraged taxpayers has come to a close as the British Columbia justice system handed out tepid 2 year sentences to both Dave Basi and Bob Virkto be served under house arrest in the relative luxury and opulence of their multi-million dollar homes.  No fines, no payback to the taxpayers, a slap on the wrist, reminiscent of a scolded child to sit in their room with all their toys, learning nothing.

While Basi and Virk have profited from their crimes as BC Taxpayers are paying their legal bills, resulting in many to believe once again in BC,  crime does pay, when it is reported that lawyers looking for a big payday dragged out a 20 month R.C.M.P. investigation resulting in a corruption trial lasting for 7 years.

 “Attorney General Mike de Jong suggested the cost of the prosecution and defence lawyers for the government could be as high as $20 million — most of which already has been paid.”

Many legal disputes attributed to lengthy delays by Basi-Virk’s  defence lawyers scrutinizing and picking apart every bit of incriminating evidence the R.C.M.P.  had on Basi-Virk over the course of 20 months.

The R.C.M.P. Spokesman stated;

“The Mounties were not looking for any politicians, and second, they were hot on the trail of organized crime, which was reaching into “every corner of B.C.”

 “It was,” the spokesman said, a “cancer eating away at the social and moral fabric of British Columbia.”

That cancer the R.C.M.P saw in Project Every Which Way turned up mountains of evidence which lead to the raid on the BC legislature. What began as an investigation, turned up a Victoria drug dealer, a cousin of Basi, later it was reported by the Victoria police that a Victoria police officer Ravinder (Rob) Singh Dosanjhwas terminated for counseling his cousin Mandeep Sandhu who was under a police investigation for connections to illegal drugs.

Mandeep Sandhu who is a friend of Basi was a political wannabe looking to jump on the cash for life politician gravy train. With the help of Basi, it was a family affair of trying and failing to get Sandhu elected as anexecutive of the federal Liberal riding association in Esquimalt­Juan de Fuca.

It was clear something was amiss when it was discovered government minion David Basi who bought a rental property in Shawingan Lake, B.C.,  later to be raided by police as a marijuana grow op, were one and the same, with David Basi facing drug charges.

Later Dave Basi’s cousin, Aneal Basi, hired to the BC Public Affairs Bureauat Basi’s recommendation is later charged with money laundering.

With all the above names implicated in criminal wrongdoing, is it just me that sees a family affair pattern?

The  R.C.M.P.s credibility was at stake, when investigating their own government, raiding government offices and laying charges against government officials shows the Red Serge do what they do best, sniff out crime, regardless of political pressure from political parties, public opinion or negative media attention.

While it seemed clear the trial was cut and dried at its inception, innocent before guilt is the standby Basi-Virk maintained throughout, regardless that the 20 month investigation by the R.C.M.P. indicated they had the Basi-Virk boys’ dead to rights when it came to conflict of interest. 

Gordon Campbell after hearing the guilty pleas by both men stating,” the two men are "criminals" who wasted millions in public money by clinging for years to their own innocence”  seemsa small comfort to taxpayers and the R.C.M.P  who feel the sentence meted out by his provincial justice system pales in comparison to the criminal acts performed by Basi-Virk.  

It is clear No Time for Serious Crimes for criminals past and present explains why British Columbia’s Justice System isn’t working and needs a major shakeup .  Why it took almost 7 years to prosecute these two criminals and their associates versus a 20 month investigation full of facts shows the lucrative aspects of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars that someone is making out like a bandit, those bandits it seems are wearing barrister robes.

A recent report this week that Corrections Canada will need an additional 2 billion dollars to house more criminals, in part due to the Federal Conservative Government election platform of serious time for serious crime bill.

 While many will be appalled at this astronomical figure, clearly it shows crime isn’t going away soon and a serious problem Canadians need on order to keep criminals off our streets.

While hundreds of thousands of like minded criminals have been placed before the British Columbia Justice, they neither show remorse nor learned anything, except an admiration of a flaccid B.C. Justice system.  In this case yet another admirable example to all criminals out there who witness the Basi-Virk sentencing and incarceration in the relative opulence of their multi-million dollar homes versus a penitentiary.

Crime does pay, and pays well in British Columbia.