Thursday, February 10, 2011

Extinguishments of $6 million debt deal for Basi and Virk was done by whom to kill the BC Rail trial?

I can't remember, was it the Attorney General of British Columbia who forgave Dave Basi and Bobby Virk's legal fees debt to the Province of British Columbia, or was it a couple of  Deputy Ministers who did it?

Highlighting in BOLD is mine:

"7.3.13 Extinguishments   (Under Revenue Management- second folder of three)
1. The responsible minister must authorize all submissions for extinguishment. Proposals must be forwarded for review to the Minister of Finance, through the Financial Management Branch, OCG, prior to submission to the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
2. The Minister or the Deputy Minister of Finance, or the Assistant Deputy Minister, Provincial Treasury, pursuant to BC Regulation 269/92, can conclude a settlement agreement or compromise settlement to forgive some or all of a debt or obligation not exceeding $100,000. In addition, the following CLMB officers have authority to conclude a settlement agreement to forgive some or all of a debt or obligation (principal plus interest) to the following limits:
the director – $40,000;
a manager – $20,000;
a collection officer – $10,000.
3. A ministry may accept a compromise settlement of a debt only after approval by Legal Services, Ministry of Attorney General. A portion of the original debt can be extinguished under the terms of an agreement.
4. Annually, ministries must submit statements of debts extinguished during the fiscal year, together with supporting documentation, to Financial Reporting and Advisory Services, OCG, for Public Accounts reporting purposes."
 The maximum amount of debt is One Hundred Thousand Dollars and it looks like this:
                                                   $   100,000
Six million dollars looks like this:   $6,000,000, so where's the Regulation that covers $6 million.



The pecking order of who gets to do what when it comes to Extinguishments goes something like this:

Responsible Minister - Attorney General
Forwarded through - Financial Management Branch, OCG
Forwarded to Lieutenant Governor in Council (Cabinet)
Forwarded to - Minister of Finance

However "a settlement agreement or compromise settlement to forgive some or all of a debt or obligation not exceeding $100,000" can be done if it is pursuant to BC Regulation 269/92 (which dead ends because the hidden link to the Regulation reads like this http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/reg/f/finadmin/269_92.htm but you end up here http://www.bclaws.ca/default.html) shifty bast....   But in the paragraph it lists off who can execute BC Regulation 269/92 and they are "The Minister or the Deputy Minister of Finance, or the Assistant  Deputy Minister, Provincial Secretary".   Not a hint of the Deputy Minister to the Attorney General and yet it was the Deputy Minister of Finance and the Deputy Minister of the Attorney General that stopped the trial in its tracks.

And if you're wondering what the "Financial Management Branch, OCG" is the OCG stands for its the Office of the Comptroller General.

All these people within the various departments of the BC Liberal Government, while the BC Rail trial was being heard by a jury, suddenly up and decides that it was in the best interests of ... taxpayers... to stop the trial.    Hmmmmmm.

2 comments:

Norm Farrell said...

Can a citizen request the auditor general to review the process?

North Van's Grumps said...

I don't know what the process is Norm, but here's a quote from the Auditor General's website:

"We serve the people of British Columbia and their elected representatives by conducting independent audits and advising on how well government is managing its responsibilities and resources."

Source: http://www.bcauditor.com/online/pubs/631/652


There was a Special Prosecutor appointed by the Deputy Attorney General of British Columbia in the BC Rail Breach of Trust charges against Dave Basi, Bobby Virk and Aneal Basi, and it appeared to have failed, in the public's opinion, so why not an Auditor General, but appointed by the ..... Legislature, Free vote.