There has been a major development in the so-called ‘triple deleting email’ scandal.
The Criminal Justice Branch announced this afternoon that a special prosecutor approved charges against former ministerial assistant George Gretes.
Gretes was previously employed in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
He is charged with two counts of willfully making false statements to mislead or attempt to mislead the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
These charges follow an RCMP investigation that arose after a report filed by the Privacy Commissioner in October of last year, which gave a black eye to the Christy Clark government and its record retention practices.
The stinging report concluded the government mismanaged potentially sensitive information. The investigators uncovered negligent searches for records, a failure to keep adequate email records, a failure to document searches and the willful destruction of records.
The report was filed as the result of an investigation launched in May 2015 after whistleblower Tim Duncan, who was a former executive assistant in the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, claimed that Gretes, his former supervisor at the ministry, deleted documents requesting information about the Highway of Tears investigation into murdered and missing women on the northern B.C. route. Gretes was suspended with pay in the aftermath.
Get breaking National news
Duncan sent a letter of complaint to the Privacy Commissioner, suggesting widespread abuse of the freedom of information process in Clark’s government.
The premier ordered her cabinet ministers and political staff to stop triple deleting their emails after the privacy report was released in October.
The report was referred to police for investigation by the Commissioner. The investigation looked into the conduct of Gretes, who was interviewed under oath.
At the request of the RCMP, a special prosecutor was appointed in November to provide legal advice and conduct a charge assessment, independent of government and the Criminal Justice Branch.
In December, former privacy commissioner David Loukidelis recommended that the B.C. government bans its policy of deleting potentially sensitive emails in an effort to improve its freedom-of-information practices, but said the government doesn’t have to save every email among the hundreds of millions it receives annually.
B.C. NDP says the charges show the lack of ethics on the part of Christy Clark’s government.
“Premier Clark sets the tone for every part of her government,” said B.C. New Democrat Leader John Horgan in a release. “These criminal charges show that her hyper-partisan, do-whatever-it-takes-to-win attitude has been taken to heart by her staff.”
Gretes will appear in court on April 20.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.