Dave Basi took lobbyist’s bribes for years, court documents state

A lobbyist in the Basi-Virk corruption case admitted to giving money to a B.C. minister’s aide in return for political favours, but said he didn’t initially see those payments as being bribes, newly released court documents show.

Eric Bornman, a Victoria-based lobbyist, told police he began giving cash to Dave Basi, at the time a ministerial aide for the B.C. government, in return for political favours soon after the 2001 provincial election brought the Liberals to power.

Bornman was to testify at the trial of Basi and Bobby Virk, who had also worked as a ministerial aide. But the trial ended in October before Bornman was called as a witness, after Basi and Virk pleaded guilty to breach of trust and receiving a benefit in connection with the sale of B.C. Rail. Basi and Virk admitted leaking inside information about the B.C. Rail sales process to one of the bidders, a Bornman client. The case came to prominence with a police raid on the legislature on Dec. 28, 2003.

"Well apart from a modest tax benefit for myself, I guess the primary reason is, you know, I was not believing, didn’t want to believe in my own mind that these were, these were bribes. In politics people often get paid to do political work," Bornman told police.

Bornman was interviewed by police in April 2004. Details of the interview were released Monday after a judge ruled that edited portions of search warrants previously made public in the B.C. Rail trial be released largely unedited.

Bornman said he believed he first met Basi and Virk in 1999 in a "political capacity."

"Basi and Virk became important political allies of mine and social acquaintances," Bornman is quoted as saying.

Bornman said that he, Basi and Bruce Clark, the brother of B.C. Liberal leadership candidate Christy Clark, entered into "casual discussions" around the possibility of a government relations communications practice.

Following the 2001 election, Basi and Virk continued to be "important political contacts" and political allies, he told police.

"At that point I started making cash payments to David Basi in consideration of his political support, his support in referring clients to my business and for assistance on client matters."

From the latter half of 2001, following the May 2001 landslide election of the provincial Liberals, Basi referred two other clients to Bornman and Pilothouse, the Victoria lobby firm Bornman helped run with Brian Kieran. He said Hydroxil Solutions and Doman Industries were referred to him after Basi was approached by a New Democrat who wanted to know a good firm to use in dealing with government.

"During that period I, I gave [Basi] a number of smaller cash payments, the, the amount of which I’m not certain and the frequency of which I’m not certain. They weren’t, they weren’t large amounts, but I, I, I, couldn’t tell you with any degree of certainty how many there were."

Those cash payments continued until March or April 2002 when Bornman began making the first of the bribes that were involved in the B.C. Rail scandal, according to the Bornman interview.

Bornman said at that point he began paying Basi’s cousin, Aneal Basi – who was charged but acquitted of money-laundering – transactions for which he said he felt "ashamed." There was "no denying" that the payments he made, which totalled more than $25,000, were being made to Dave Basi, not Aneal, Bornman said. "I never discussed it with Aneal, but I, I mean, David had to be telling Aneal something to get the money back. . . . I mean, you know, David had a variety of explanations for what the funds were going to be used for."

Basi and Virk are under house arrest, each serving sentences of two years less a day.

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Basi lobbied for trip, court documents show

Dave Basi, at the time a B.C. government ministerial aide, pressed a Victoria lobbying firm to give him a trip, according to quotes in court documents released Monday.

Victoria lobbyist Eric Bornman told police that he was paying Basi for political favours, including helping a client who wanted to buy government-owned B.C. Rail, the documents say.

They describe how Basi and Bobby Virk, another ministerial aide, initially paid for a flight to Colorado in November 2002 and how Denver-based OmniTrax paid for the hotels, bought dinner and took the Basi and Virk couples to an NFL game.

OmniTrax was a bidder for B.C. Rail and eventually lost out to CN Rail.

During conversations with Bornman and Basi, Bornman’s lobbyist partner Brian Kieran said he felt that Basi expected to be reimbursed for his expenses and that a cheque would not suffice because "he wanted cash."

Bornman and Kieran were partners in lobbying firm Pilothouse.

The information in the court documents is from search warrants and is based on police interviews from 2004.

Kieran said he was authorized by an OmniTrax official to pay for the flights and bill OmniTrax. He then withdrew $3,000 in cash and gave the entire amount to Dave Basi at the Hotel Grand Pacific.

Bornman said that the trip was a result of Basi, in the fall of 2002, indicating he was interested in the Broe Group, an OmniTrax affiliate, providing him with a trip somewhere. Basi asked whether or not the Broe Group was able to cover a vacation and alternately show him some of their core assets, the court documents show.

Bornman said he and Kieran tried to dissuade Basi from that idea.

While in Denver, Basi and Virk met with Pat Broe, with Basi giving Broe "his assurance that CN would not receive, would not be successful in its attempts" to win B.C. Rail, Bornman is quoted as saying.

After the visit, Basi and Virk became concerned and wrote a cheque to the Broe Group, paying for the hotel rooms. "However, that was merely a front and Pilothouse paid back Basi and Virk the cost of both the hotel rooms" and the flight.

OmniTrax official Gary Rennick told police in May 2004 that when Basi and Virk arrived, the company introduced them to the folks around the office.

The documents also reveal that a forensic examination by a chartered accountant with the federal government initially revealed that Dave Basi had $870,000 in unexplained income between 2000 and 2004.

But in court Monday, Basi’s lawyers took issue with the figure, saying the same accountant ultimately arrived at the figure of $112,000 as Basi’s income from unknown sources.

The defence lawyers also said the money referred to accounts held by Basi and jointly by him, his wife and his mother.

There was a furor when it was revealed following the Basi and Virk guilty pleas that the government had agreed to pay the

$6-million legal fees associated with the case, on the grounds that the fees could not be recovered.