Pubdate: Tue, 30 Dec 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2003, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Jane Taber and Robert Matas

TARGETS OF RAIDS HAD TIES TO MARTIN

Subjects In B.C. Probe Touted For Posts In New PM's Government,
Sources Say

OTTAWA; VANCOUVER -- The central figures in Sunday's RCMP raid on the
offices of two senior B.C. cabinet ministers were being touted for top
Ottawa jobs in Paul Martin's new government, sources say.

David Basi and Bob Virk, the two ministerial assistants who are of
interest to the RCMP, were organizers in British Columbia's
Indo-Canadian community for Mr. Martin's successful leadership bid.

The office of Victoria-based lobbyist Erik Bornman, who has close ties
to the Martin camp, was also searched by police Sunday.

Mr. Bornman is a protege of Mr. Martin's B.C. campaign chairman Mark
Marissen, sources say. He served as the director of operations in B.C.
for Mr. Martin's leadership campaign.

Mr. Bornman is a former Liberal Youth president for B.C., now serves
as vice-president of communications for the federal party in B.C. and,
for a time, worked for Environment Minister David Anderson, who is
from Victoria.

The RCMP raided Mr. Bornman's office at Pilot House Public Affairs
Group Inc. and the offices of B.C. Finance Minister Gary Collins and
Transportation Minister Judith Reid as part of an investigation
related to an organized-crime drug case.

The RCMP said yesterday that the raids targeted the two ministerial
assistants, not any elected officials.

Sources say Mr. Basi, a key ministerial aide and friend of Mr.
Collins, helped Mr. Marissen organize several Victoria ridings and
constituencies on the mainland for the Martin leadership campaign. Mr.
Basi's home was also searched Sunday.

Mr. Virk is an assistant to Ms. Reid. Reports say that he is a close
friend of Mr. Basi. Mr. Basi was fired from his job yesterday; Mr.
Virk was suspended. The police have not been in contact with the Prime
Minister's Office in Ottawa.

A senior Liberal source said that the two men were being talked about
as prospects for jobs in federal ministers' offices. Mr. Basi was
being promoted more heavily than Mr. Virk, the source said.

"Dave was rumoured to be both a candidate [in B.C. for the next
federal election] but he was being pushed pretty aggressively in terms
of getting a position here in Ottawa," the source said. "They [the
Martin team] want to look after their organizers."

Mr. Basi was "seen as a potential key person coming out of that
organization," the source said.

Former Sheila Copps supporter Greg Wilson, a member of the B.C.
Liberal executive from 1996 to 1999, said that Mr. Basi and his young
Liberal friends were known as "Basi's Boys" -- well-dressed young men
who drove good cars and in no way resembled the typical
T-shirt-and-jean-clad young Liberal.

The Basi Boys were involved in a battle launched by Mr. Marissen that
saw the Martin camp take over Natural Resources Minister Herb
Dhaliwal's riding association last November, Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Dhaliwal, the first Indo-Canadian federal cabinet minister, was a
staunch supporter of former prime minister Jean Chretien and the
political minister for B.C. It was a humiliating defeat for him and
revealed the divisions within his community as well as the Liberal
Party.

Meanwhile, Mr. Basi's ethnicity, organizational skills and
aggressiveness made him an attractive prospect for a job in Ottawa
with Mr. Martin.

According to reports, Mr. Basi was a veteran public servant in B.C. in
the ministry for small business. He met Mr. Collins when the
provincial Liberals were in opposition and the two became friends.

He left the bureaucracy and went to work for Mr. Collins more than two
years ago.

In this period, he became active in the movement to elect Mr. Martin
as leader of the federal Liberal Party. He attended the fall
leadership convention.

Mr. Martin's forces controlled nearly all of British Columbia's
delegates and ridings in the November leadership contest.

His organizers helped increase the size of the party from 4,000
members in February, 2002, to more than 37,000 last fall. About 40 per
cent of that number are Indo-Canadian.

Mr. Marissen's efforts were one of the reasons for the
growth.

Mr. Marissen will be the Liberals' provincial organizer in the federal
election expected in the spring. He told a local television station
yesterday that police asked for his co-operation in the investigation
but said they did not have search warrants.

CBC reported that RCMP told Mr. Marissen he may have been the innocent
recipient of documents they were interested in, and which he turned
over to them.

In the close-knit world of B.C. politics, it's not surprising to find
that Mr. Marissen is one half of a B.C. political power couple.

He is married to Deputy Premier and Education Minister Christy Clark,
whose brother, Bruce, was Mr. Martin's chief fundraiser in the province.

Both Mr. Marissen and Ms. Clark came to Ottawa earlier this month for
Mr. Martin's swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall.

A recent article in a local Vancouver newspaper described the two as
the "ultimate power couple." It mentioned that just after Mr. Martin
won the leadership, Mr. Marissen had to throw away his cellular phone
because he was being inundated with calls "advice and favours."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin