Vasi-Birk Trial Stinks

 

Run Up $6,000,000 Legal Bill

Then They Plead Guilty

Then They Go Home!

One of my pet peeves is how more and more people seem to be abandoning their roles in the democratic process. Then every now and then comes along a case like the Vasi-Birk episode and it really seems to add fuel to the argument that all the politicians and the whole system is simply too corrupt to participate with anymore.

I realize that sometimes the justice system simply does things for very good reasons that are well beyond my ability to understand and that does not reflect poorly on the system. There are circumstances and considerations that a judge will take into account when rendering a decision that are never expressed in the news story of the event and not knowing those details can leave the public observer shaking their heads with some outcomes.

The appearances created by the Vasi-Birk case is one of those cases that simply makes you shake your head and wonder what the heck is going on in the world! Follows is my interpretation of what this whole matter looks like and why it leaves far more questions unanswered than answered.

These two highly placed civil servants were simply crooks who took money for personal gain in exchange for inside information and or influence they could peddle in government circles. Their involvement with some details surrounding the controversial BC Rail deal is what propelled them into the limelight when the police began investigating some seven years ago.

Because they were government employees their whole legal defense was paid for by you and I as taxpayers in this fine province. Over the course of seven years and countless hours of court time, and millions of dollars of legal costs, they maintained their innocence. Now at the eleventh hour they have changed their plea to guilty as charged.

The result? They get sentenced to two years house arrest, during which time they may still leave their homes in the daytime and they are not required to repay the cost of their legal defense, which is usually required if someone is found guilty as charged. Rightly so, if a government employee is found not guilty, their legal fees are paid by the government. However, that was not the case, they pleaded guilty!

Speculation is rampant that this whole deal was struck so that high ranking politicians up to and including Gordon Campbell would not have to testify in open court with regards the controversial BC Rail affair.

This is yet another example of the goings on of those we elect and pay to run our affairs making democracy look like one large joke! Why not have to pay the legal tab? Why should we get stuck with millions of dollars when they clearly were guilty from the get go? Why don't they serve some REAL time in one of those REAL prisons which is where the criminals are supposed to go as a punishment for their crimes.

Could it be this was all orchestrated in the back rooms of the Star Chamber so these two guys take the fall in exchange for lenient terms to protect the real puppet masters? There I go again!