The Facts in Dispute Continue to Thwart My Deepest Wishes

The BC Legislature trial hints at high level political corruption but just might not deliver

Okay, after reading this Globe and Mail article former BC solicitor general Rich Coleman has the benefit of my doubt once more :

Heated investigation required mediator
Competing RCMP teams had to be talked through dispute over diverging theories on suspects
MARK HUME

May 8, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Separate RCMP teams pursuing parallel drug and breach-of-trust investigations became so intensely competitive that a mediator had to be called in to keep them both on track, a Crown attorney in a political-corruption case told the Supreme Court of British Columbia yesterday.

Janet Winteringham, a member of the special prosecution team, talked about the internal police conflict as she opened the Crown's response to defence submissions made during the past two weeks.

Ms. Winteringham told Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett that the arguments the defence had put before the court were based on "a multiplicity of disputed facts ... [and] a number of inaccurate statements."

She said lawyers representing three government employees charged with breach of trust, fraud and money laundering related to the privatization of BC Rail presented a misleading picture based on an incomplete record of events.

For the rest of the article click here.

Bill Tieleman blogs about the court case and emphasizes a different aspect of Winteringham's presentation yesterday here.