A Vancouver Island development company that built the Sunriver Estates residential community in Sooke is expected to plead guilty Friday to charges of bribing a government official in an attempt to remove land out of the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Times Colonist has learned.
Documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday show Shambrook Hills Development Corporation, also known as Sunriver Estates, has been indicted on one count of paying a $50,000 bribe to former government official Dave Basi, in connection with an application to the ALR.
Basi pleaded guilty to the offence Monday, as part of other guilty pleas he entered related to the sale of B.C. Rail.
The alleged offence against Sunriver Estates, which falls under the criminal code category of fraud on government, occurred between January 2002 and September 2003, according to the indictment.
Friday’s hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver is scheduled as a guilty plea and sentencing in front of Associate Chief Justice Anne MacKenzie, the court confirmed.
The allegations of wrongdoing in the construction of Sunriver Estates first emerged in documents related to the 2003 raid of the B.C. legislature in connection to the B.C. Rail corruption investigation.
Sunriver Estates is a 700-home development built on 155 hectares along the Sooke River with parkland, trails and a school.
The land was originally purchased from forest company Timberwest. Past news reports indicate three attempts were required to get the Agricultural Land Commission to agree to remove the land from the reserve so it could be rezoned for housing.
Developers Tony Young and Jim Duncan of Shambrook Hills were originally charged with allegations they paid government officials benefits to help exercise influence over the ALR’s decision to allow the land to be removed.
Duncan and Young are longtime developers in Victoria. They have been partners in Swiftsure Developments Ltd., whose projects include the Magnolia Hotel in Victoria, the Ocean Park Towers in the Songhees and the Yale House Development near the Oak Bay Municipal Hall.
A new indictment was released Thursday, mentioning the entire company of Shambrook Hills Development Corp.
Young and Duncan were not mentioned in the new indictment. It is unclear at this time whether or not charges are proceeding against Young and Duncan. The situation is expected to be addressed in court tomorrow.
Lawyers for the company could not be reached for comment Thursday.
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