Cousins Bob Virk, left, and David Basi face 12 indictments, 9 of them linked to the bidding process for BC Rail operating rights.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
The B.C. government gave up recovery of assets worth $352,000 as part of a plea bargain deal with former political aides David Basi and Bobby Virk in the B.C. Rail political corruption trial.
The province could have picked up around $322,000 by taking over property owned by Mr. Basi and his wife, Inderjit, said Shawn Robins, a spokesman for the Attorney-General's Ministry. Approximately $30,000 more was in a registered retirement savings plan held by Mr. Virk, he said Thursday in an interview.
However, the government would not have reached a deal with the two men if it had insisted on taking the assets, Mr. Robins said. Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk asked the government to abandon efforts to go after those assets for the cost of their legal fees as part of the plea bargain, he said.
"It was determined that, after the costs that we had to go through for recovery, when compared with the … cost of multimillions of dollars to continue the case, the deputy Attorney-General and the deputy Minister of Finance decided that, from a cost-benefit perspective, it was better to not put impediments in the way of a plea agreement with Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk," Mr. Robins said.
The legal bill to defend Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk was around $6-million. Attorney-General Mike de Jong has said the province decided to pick up the tab for the two men because they did not have any assets to pay their bill.
The Globe and Mail reported earlier this week that the province had registered mortgages on property owned by Mr. Basi and his wife as security on a commitment that Mr. Basi made to pay his legal bills if he were to be convicted. The mortgage was registered against a property in Victoria with the assessed value in 2010 of $518,000. The amount of the mortgage was not available in public records.
Mr. de Jong told reporters Thursday that he understood how people felt about the costs associated with the trial. But, he said, he was "not certain people would be any happier if the deputy minister decided to spend another one-two-three millions of taxpayers money, knowing as he did that there was no prospect of collecting any of that money from the individuals."
Mr. de Jong said he was not involved in the decision to reach a deal with Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk, and he did not have the authority to stop it.
Special prosecutor Bill Berardino, who is independent of government, was in charge of the prosecution, Mr. de Jong said. Issues relating to the cost of the defence were decided by the deputy ministers of the Attorney-General and of Finance. "I was not part of that exercise," he said.
He agreed with the decision to reach a deal with Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk that resulted in a conviction.
Some people would proceed with the trial "come hell or high water, no matter what the cost to taxpayers," Mr. de Jong said. But he would not "second-guess" the decision of the two deputy ministers, he said. "They made the best decision they could, taking into account the preserving of the integrity of the justice system and protecting the public interest," he said.
Deputy Attorney-General David Loukidelis declined to be interviewed Thursday.
New Democrat Leader Carole James said questions are growing about the government's motivation for paying Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk's legal fees.
"The B.C. Liberals' actions are creating a crisis of confidence in government. British Columbians feel it's a clear breach of trust," she stated in a news release. She called for an independent third party to investigate the matter "and get to the bottom of why the B.C. Liberal government paid out $6-million in public money to make this plea deal happen."
In a sudden end to the politically charged saga, Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk earlier this week pleaded guilty to breach of trust and accepting bribes in exchange for leaking confidential information during the bidding process in the $1-billion sale of B.C. Rail in 2003. The trial was expected to continue possibly for another eight months.
Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk received a conditional sentence of two years less a day, to be served under house arrest. They each must also do 150 hours of community service. Mr. Basi was ordered to pay a fine of $75,695, which reflected all the money he was accused of receiving in bribes.