Standard Blog Whole Post

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing to be a drama in three acts next year

Bob Mackin

Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing will begin Jan. 20, 2020, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled on June 6.

That is where it gets complicated.

Meng Wanzhou leaves her Dunbar house on May 8.

After a Canadian government lawyer outlines the case to extradite the Huawei Technologies chief financial officer to the United States, Meng’s defence quartet will take over. They will spend three days arguing that she should not be sent south to face fraud charges for allegedly deceiving a bank to get around Iran trade sanctions. They say she does not meet the extradition act requirement of “double criminality.”

“The alleged [fraud] offence could only exist in a county that prohibits international financial transactions in relation to Iran. Canada is no longer such a country,” states a June 5 filing by Meng’s lawyers.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes said the case will return to court June 15, 2020 and sit for two weeks while she hears Meng’s lawyers ask her to quash the case because of abuse of process. Meng’s lawyers say police who arrested her at Vancouver International Airport last Dec. 1 violated her civil rights and President Donald Trump interfered in the case by publicly stating that Meng could be used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with China.

Finally, the third phase will be the conclusion of the extradition hearing for two weeks beginning Sept. 28, 2020.

That is, unless Meng’s lawyers succeed on the double criminality or abuse of process applications.

Holmes largely agreed to the case management proposal made by Meng’s lawyer David Martin. He called it the “tightest, most-aggressive schedule we can envisage.”

Federal Crown lawyer John Gibb-Carsley unsuccessfully argued for a quicker, more compact extradition hearing, instead of the two-track procedure conceived by Meng’s lawyers.

“It’s duplicate of the process, as opposed to committal being determined holistically and at one time and completely,” he said about the defence proposal.

The hearing dragged on for more than two-and-a-half hours until Holmes came back from a break and called the defence motion a “workable and rational schedule.”

“I’m told that’s an unusual manner of conducting a committal hearing. it may well be,” Holmes said. “In light of the nature and particular circumstances of this case and in light of the obligation the court has and it’s been increasingly emphasized by [Supreme Court of Canada] to ensure that criminal proceedings and those include extradition proceedings, move along as expeditiously as is appropriate.”

Max Wang protested outside Meng Wanzhou’s March 6 court date (Mackin)

Meng did not attend the June 6 hearing and there were few supporters in court. She is expected back before Holmes on Sept. 23 to begin seven days of hearings on applications about evidence disclosure. Meng’s lawyers are filing access to information requests to federal departments and may take detours to the Federal Court should disclosures be late or overly censored.

Similar to previous hearings, Meng’s lawyers did not speak with reporters.

Huawei vice-president Benjamin Howes, at a news conference organized by Hill and Knowlton, read substantially the same statement as he did on May 8. Instead of the Law Courts steps, where protesters disrupted proceedings, the company public relations representative read a short statement in a hotel meeting room and left without taking questions.

“Evidence submitted by the U.S. government is insufficient and the allegations against Ms. Meng are baseless,” Howes said.

Meng was arrested at Vancouver International Airport last Dec. 1 and released on $10 million bail on Dec. 11. She is living under curfew at a $13 million Shaughnessy mansion that is registered under the name of her husband, Liu Xiaozong. Guards from Lions Gate Risk Management were appointed by the court to oversee Meng on a 24-hour, seven-day basis so that she does not flee the country.

The incident sparked a diplomatic row between Canada and China, which retaliated by arresting diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor. The two Michaels are cut-off from their families and lawyers. They are only allowed a monthly visit from a Canadian embassy official, but can’t enjoy sunlight in daytime or turn off lights at night.

Meanwhile, the Canadian government responded to Meng’s March civil lawsuit that claimed police breached her constitutional rights when they arrested her. The June 3 filing said Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP officers acted lawfully and in good faith to execute the extradition warrant on behalf of the United States. The filing denied officers searched Meng’s smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

June 6, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing will begin

Business, News

Canadian authorities say they did not search Meng Wanzhou’s phones or computers upon her arrival in Vancouver

Bob Mackin

Meng Wanzhou was planning to briefly leave Vancouver International Airport during a layover to drop-off some belongings at one of her houses last Dec. 1, before authorities surprised her with an extradition warrant.

That, according to a statement of defence filed June 3 by the Canadian government in B.C. Supreme Court in response to Meng’s March 1 lawsuit that alleges her arrest and detention breached her civil rights.

Meng Wanzhou in Stanley Park (B.C. Supreme Court exhibits)

The Huawei chief financial officer was on her way to Mexico from Hong Kong, when she disembarked in Vancouver and was searched by Canada Border Services Agency officers. They eventually handed her over to RCMP officers who arrested her and took her to the nearby Richmond detachment.

The response to Meng’s amended civil claim names CBSA Officers Sowmith Katragadda and Scott Kirkland and RCMP Const. Winston Yep as defendants. It says that they all acted lawfully and in good faith. The agencies admit they demanded Meng’s phone numbers and passwords to her electronic devices, but they deny examining the contents of those devices.

The court filing says that CBSA officers at YVR were contacted by U.S. law enforcement on Nov. 30 with information that an extradition warrant may need to be executed on Dec. 1. No details of the subject were provided.

The warrant was issued Nov. 30 and Yep met with CBSA officers at the airport and informed them of the warrant. When Yep left the airport, Meng’s flight had not departed Hong Kong, so he was unable to confirm whether she had boarded. But CBSA confirmed the next morning that she was on the flight to Vancouver.

An alert was generated in the CBSA’s automated system that advised CBSA officers of her arrival. It automatically directed her to a secondary examination after the standard primary customs and immigration examination for all travellers.

“The plaintiff’s allegations that her Charter rights were violated, that the defendants acted unlawfully and that she suffered harm are without merit. The claim against the defendants should be dismissed with costs,” the statement of defence says.

Katragadda and Kirkland were among officers who checked passengers as they disembarked the plane. They accompanied Meng to the customs hall to claim her baggage. She made her declarations at the automated kiosk, which issued a receipt with a coded alert for CBSA officers to divert her too secondary screening.

The $5.6 million 28th Avenue house where Meng Wanzhou must live while she awaits extradition to the United States (Mackin)

Katragadda discovered a laptop, computer tablet and USB storage device. He determined, after x-raying and searching her luggage, that there were no customs issues about the goods. At no time were the electronic devices removed from the counter.

Kirkland asked her to provide phone numbers and passwords, in case he had to examine the contents for customs or immigration purposes. He wrote it down in his notebook.

“At no time did any CBSA officer examine the contents of the electronic devices or the phones.”

Katragadda and other officers consulted with specialized government units including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

But they were not immediately available, because it was a Saturday.

But at no time during her customs and immigration examination by CBSA did Meng ask to speak with a lawyer.

Three hours elapsed, but CBSA claims it was “within the normal time range for secondary customs and immigration examinations” and that no RCMP officer was present.

Katragadda informed Meng that another government agency wanted to speak with her and that she was willing. He informed her it was the RCMP.

Const. Yep and another RCMP officer entered the room. He identified himself, informed her of the warrant and arrested her. He also informed her of her Charter rights and asked if she would like to speak with the Chinese consulate. Meng asked to speak with her lawyer in China.

RCMP then took control of her belongings, including a piece of paper containing her phone numbers and passwords, before they took Meng to the Richmond RCMP detachment.

She spent the next week-and-a-half in a women’s prison in a Vancouver suburb before her Dec. 11 release on strict bail conditions. She spent the next five months living under a curfew at her $5 million Dunbar house before moving recently to a $13 million mansion in Shaughnessy, on the same block as the residence of the local United States Consul General. The United States wants to try her on fraud charges, but she has claimed her innocence and is contesting the extradition as an abuse of process by American authorities.

Meanwhile, Meng’s case is back before a B.C. Supreme Court judge on June 6 to set dates and deal with applications from her lawyers. The actual extradition hearing won’t begin before 2020.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

June 4, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin Meng Wanzhou was planning to briefly

Business, Miscellany, News

Exclusive: Pee and Poo mascots “will humanize” Metro Vancouver, according to regional government bureaucrat

Bob Mackin

Pee and Poo were not the number one and number two choices for Metro Vancouver’s new mascots.

Larina Lopez sandwiched between Metro Vancouver’s Pee and Poo mascots (Metro Vancouver)

Documents released under freedom of information show that the regional government originally wanted to buy paper towel roll, disposable wipes and pill bottle costumes to promote its Unflushables anti-pipe-clogging campaign. Shellee Ritzman, communications policy coordinator, told one prospective Delta supplier on Feb. 7 that the priority for the April 1 launch would be the disposable wipe costume.

Ritzman switched gears the next day and proposed Pee, Poo and a walking roll of toilet paper.

In an email to Larina Lopez and Carol Niclas, Ritzman said it would take up to 12 weeks to deliver each costume at a cost of $5,000 to $7,000 per.

“Next year, it’s hair. Do we make a hair mascot? The next year, it’s tampons. Do we make a tampon mascot? (You know I would love that.)” Ritzman wrote.

“The message Pee/Poo/TP tells us what CAN go down. It reinforces the desired behaviour. They’re the good guys. We’d need them smiling and friendly. The pee and poo mascots can hand out our branded toilet paper. It’s perfect.”

Early version of the Metro Vancouver Pee and Poo mascot costumes (Metro Vancouver)

She noted that people are obsessed in a bizarre way on social media with the poop emoji and it would be a more shareable photo than someone wearing a wipe or pill bottle costume. Among the inspirations she named were Victoria’s Mr. Floatie pro-sewage plant protest mascot and South Park’s Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.

Heather Schoemaker, Metro Vancouver’s general manager of external relations, chimed in.

“People prefer buying from people rather than a faceless brand and these characters will humanize Metro Vancouver while giving visitors a positive experience to remember,” Schoemaker wrote.

After flushing the idea of the other mascots, Metro Vancouver originally wanted the heads of the “brand ambassadors” to be visible, but eventually warmed up to the idea of full-body mascots.

Artist’s design of the Pee and Poo mascots for Metro Vancouver (Loonie Times/Metro Vancouver)

Loonie Times of Mississauga, Ont. eventually supplied the costumes, at a cost of $4,620 for Pee and $4,945 for Poo, plus tax, including interior ventilation systems and storage bags. The company’s clients have included Kellogg’s, Planter’s Peanuts, Kraft, Toronto Raptors and Procter and Gamble.

The mascots raised a stink on social media at an opportune time, diverting attention from Metro Vancouver’s stalled, $778 milllion North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant megaproject.

District of North Vancouver officially halted work on the site on April 10, after several weeks of no site preparation activity.

theBreaker.news finally revealed that subcontractor Tetra Tech was suing builder Acciona for $20 million.

The project is already running at least $70 million over budget and the site remains shut down. No project updates have been published on the project website since last Nov. 29. The vague, original schedule said secondary treatment was supposed to be operational by the end of 2020, with final completion of the project in 2021.

Acciona is blocking the disclosure of cost and construction schedule documents that theBreaker.news requested from Metro Vancouver’s freedom of information office. The Spain-headquartered company has complained to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and could seek a court injunction to hide the true costs of the troubled project from taxpayers.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

June 4, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin Pee and Poo were not the

Business, Miscellany, News

Exclusive: Credibility of college admissions scheme ringleader Rick Singer is a key issue, says David Sidoo’s lawyer

Bob Mackin

Lawyers for 19 of the defendants in the college admissions scandal, including Vancouver’s David Sidoo, continue to sift through millions of pages of material as a judge in a Boston federal court on June 2 scheduled another status conference in four months.

David Sidoo

Sidoo has pleaded not guilty to charges of mail and wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. He was not required to attend the June 2 hearing. Of the 50 people charged in the scheme, 22 have either pleaded guilty in court or agreed to plead guilty.

Sidoo’s name appears at the top of an April indictment. Prosecutors in Boston accuse Sidoo of paying $200,000 for an impostor to write entrance exams in 2011 and 2012 for sons Dylan and Jordan, the St. George’s students who were admitted to Chapman University and University of California Berkeley, respectively.

Prosecutors supplied copies of evidence to Sidoo and his legal team in late April. There is so much, that it came on a hard drive and DVD. Sidoo’s Las Vegas lawyer David Chesnoff said the disclosure is being examined in a “very thorough manner.”

“It is the intention of Mr. Sidoo and his lawyers to examine all the discovery in order to study and present facts about the credibility of Mr. Singer,” Chesnoff told theBreaker.news.

David Chesnoff (Chabad of Southern Nevada)

He was referring to Rick Singer, the California consultant who pleaded guilty in March to running what he admitted was a “side door “ scheme that helped rich parents gain access for their sons and daughters to top-notch universities. Singer’s methods involved faking athletic credentials and cheating on entrance exams. Payments were arranged through a charitable foundation that Singer ran.

Sidoo’s Boston lawyer Martin Weinberg was quoted in an NBC story on June 2 as denying allegations that parents paid bribes. “Many of the clients would contend that if payments were made to a charity or sports organization, that is not a bribe,” Weinberg said.

Based on the evidence reviewed over the last month, has Sidoo’s defence team decided its route?

“It’s definitely too early, it’s hard to make a map without being able to study the materials, which is what we’re doing,” Chesnoff said.

Chesnoff declined comment when pressed about the quality of evidence disclosed by investigators.

“I try to do my talking in court,” he said.

Former University of B.C. football star and board member Sidoo, who made a fortune in oil and gas stocks, could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Test taker Mark Riddell and Singer’s corporate accountant, Steven Masera. have pleaded guilty and agreed to help prosecutors in exchange for lesser sentences.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

June 3, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin Lawyers for 19 of the defendants

News, Opinion

Former B.C. lawmaker remembers the spring of 1989 and ponders the legacy of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Editor’s note: The Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement [VSSDM] held a 30th anniversary memorial to the victims of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 2. The venue was the University of British Columbia’s replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue that Chinese soldiers destroyed in their deadly crackdown on the peaceful student protests for democracy and free speech in Beijing. Dr. Tom Perry was an NDP MLA from 1986 to 1996, and spent two years as the minister of advanced education, training and technology. In 1989, he represented Vancouver-Point Grey. He could not attend the memorial because of teaching commitments in Tumbler Ridge.

This is Perry’s letter to VSSDM that was read at the June 2 memorial.

I remember clearly how it felt in May and the beginning of June 1989 to observe from afar what appeared to be the stirrings of a progressive democratic movement in China. My entire family was excited, including my parents who had lived through World War II and the Great Depression, and who greatly admired many accomplishments of the Chinese Revolution of 1949. Our family had always considered ourselves friendly to China’s attempt to lift its people out of profound misery, ignorance, war, and starvation – even if we knew little about China.

Encouraged by what appeared to be happening in the spring of 1989, I gave a speech in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, June 2, 1989 – precisely 30 years ago. Of course I had no idea of what was about to happen, and was already being planned by the government.

Ex-NDP MLA Dr. Tom Perry (UBC)

My speech expressed the admiration of Canadians for what most of us may have believed was an inevitable historical progression of human rights. Here is part of what I said in the B.C. Legislature the day before the catastrophic repression of a peaceful demonstration:

“… Now we acknowledge China not only as the inheritor of a proud and ancient culture but often as a world leader in health, education and, increasingly, science and technology.

“Far be it from us to prescribe to any nation, great or small, how to develop its society or govern its citizens. But it is natural and totally appropriate that we Canadians should wish for the Chinese people, if they so wish them for themselves, those same rights to freedom of speech, association, religion and security of person that our society has recognized for hundreds of years, and which the world as a whole accepted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the founding of the United Nations…

“The greatest achievements of the human spirit, be it the age-old struggle for self-expression of the Jews, celebrated each year at Passover; be it the slave rebellions in ancient Rome or in nineteenth-century America; be it the Enlightenment in Europe; be it the revolutions in France, the United States, Mexico, South America or Russia: all have been inspired and ultimately won by the synthesis of courageous and creative leadership with the genuine and legitimate aspirations of ordinary people.

“We have seen that democratization seems to be an inevitable and insuppressible tendency of human society. We have seen it recently in the Philippines, in the Soviet Union and Poland, and now in China. In all of these movements students and scholars have played an important part. I think that is why Canadians are so enthralled by the developments in Beijing and elsewhere in China. No wonder that Chinese students studying in Canada, as elsewhere in the world, have expressed their solidarity with compatriots and colleagues back home…”

At a June 2, 2019 UBC memorial, laying a flower on the base of the replica of the military-destroyed Tiananmen Square “Goddess of Democracy” statue (Mackin)

It was disturbing to me at that time that a Government (Social Credit) Member of the Legislative Assembly, Russ Fraser, had criticized Chinese students who were studying in B.C. for having supported their compatriots in China. In retrospect perhaps what Mr. Fraser said was an early warning about becoming complacent about human rights that have been won through centuries, if not millennia of hard struggles.

Think about what has happened since. Not only the very next day when the police, acting on government orders, broke up the Tiananmen demonstrations, killing a very large but still unknown number of protestors. What about Russia, Poland, the Philippines, all of which appeared to be bright examples of democratic reform only thirty years ago? What about the United States, formerly so prominent a beacon of democracy and progress for much of the world? Or Turkey? Or how the relatively advanced societies of Iraq and Syria have been ripped apart by totally unjustified militarism?

The Tiananmen Square repression also taught me something about Canada. It seemed natural to me then, as it does now, to stand at the side of students and others who had hoped for something much better. I soon learned that many of my fellow elected officials were afraid to do so. When Chinese students visited the Legislative Assembly on the following Monday, very few Members of the Legislature wished to meet them.

Why was this? I think the answer was that concern about economic relationships took precedence over concern for human rights. Or that many elected officials considered the struggle for real democracy unlikely to succeed, if not hopeless.

Before we condemn them, perhaps on this 30^th anniversary of Tiananmen we should consider our own actions today with respect to democratic participation. How many of those around us on this beautiful UBC campus have consistently voted in elections? Of them, how many have informed themselves well about issues and considered the real merits of candidates – rather than voting by rote, or simply following what their friends or families do? How many are considering in depth the decisions of two Liberal Members of Parliament to contest the 2019 election as Independents, and whether or not political party discipline should remain as suffocating as it has become in Canada?

To me, one of the lessons from Tiananmen Square was that democracy is NOT an inevitable trend. Quite the contrary. Repression and dictatorship may be the inevitable consequences of ignorance, bigotry, and failure by individual citizens to exercise their democratic responsibilities as well as their rights.

In Canada we are still well ahead of the curve compared with most of the world. But for how long? What can we as individuals do both here and abroad to foster universal respect for human dignity, human rights, a compassionate and more just society? What might we change in our own lives?

Something to think about not only on June 2^nd, but also as we approach Canada Day on July 1^st.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

June 3, 2019

0 Comments

Editor's note: The Vancouver Society in Support

Miscellany, News, Opinion

theBreaker.news Podcast: Speaker survives — but will the BC Liberals?

Only in bizarro British Columbia.

Opposition politicians and their friends in the Victoria press gallery are demanding the replacement of one of the most-senior public employees in the province.

What did he do?

Guard information in an era when the deleting, destroying or disappearing of records has become the subject of scandal, at home and abroad.

The BC Liberals tried again to replace Speaker Darryl Plecas on May 30, the final day of the spring session at the Legislature.

Speaker Darryl Plecas (left) and chief of staff Alan Mullen (Mackin)

The whistleblower and his chief of staff uncovered waste and corruption in the office of the clerk and sergeant-at-arms that prompted an RCMP investigation last year. Clerk Craig James, who was hired for the job in 2011 by the BC Liberals, resigned in disgrace after he was found in misconduct.

Plecas’s latest “sin”? Exercising his right as the chief administrator at the Legislature to call an IT security expert to back-up hard drives in the office of the acting clerk and acting sergeant-at-arms, who retired at the end of the session.

“We have had at least five separate incidents in recent memory where information, documentation and at times evidence have gone missing. Disappeared into thin air,” Plecas’s chief of staff, Alan Mullen, told host Bob Mackin on this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast. “Whether it be information on computers or hard copies. Information has gone missing and when investigators or other interested parties go looking, we have to say ‘I’m sorry we don’t have that information.’ And why? We have no idea. We didn’t want to be in that position again.”

One-by-one, 37 BC Liberal MLAs denounced Plecas as minutes remained in the session. Only Penticton MLA Dan Ashton refused to read from the script. He urged all leaders, including his own, to come together to solve the problems in the people’s house. (The other four BC Liberal MLAs were absent.)

The last act by the Andrew Wilkinson-led opposition was to leave the chamber early in protest. Something the BC Liberals will regret doing should the RCMP probe yield charges.

Earlier in the day, the BC Liberals offered one of their own MLAs to replace Plecas, but Premier John Horgan was clear that Plecas, the Abbotsford criminologist who became B.C.’s first independent speaker in 2017, was going nowhere.

“To echo John Horgan, we have a speaker,” Mullen said. “His name is Darryl Plecas. And we would not have known any of this information about all the misspending and wrongdoing at the Legislature had it not been for Speaker Darryl Plecas.”

Listen to Mackin’s feature interview with Mullen.

Also, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, more from award-winning journalist and author Terry Glavin. He makes the case for Canada to say no to Huawei, the flagship multinational company of China Inc.

Plus commentaries and Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.

Click below to listen or go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe.

Have you missed an edition of theBreaker.news Podcast? Go to the archive.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

theBreaker.news Podcast

theBreaker.news Podcast: Speaker survives -- but will the BC Liberals?

00:00 / 00:29:38

June 2, 2019

0 Comments

Only in bizarro British Columbia. Opposition politicians

Business, Miscellany, News

Evidence in the U.S. case against David Sidoo contained on hard drive and DVD

Bob Mackin

Prosecutors disclosed evidence to David Sidoo more than a month ago, according to a May 29 status update to the Boston court handling the college admissions scandal.

Vancouverite Sidoo, a former CFL player who became a wealthy stock market player, tops a list of 19 people named in an April 9 indictment. Sidoo pleaded not guilty on April 29 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Dylan (left), David and Jordan Sidoo

He is accused of paying more than $200,000 for Harvard-educated tennis coach Mark Riddell to write college entrance exams for sons Dylan and Jordan Sidoo, neither of whom are charged.

If convicted, David Sidoo could face up to 20 years in prison. His next court date is June 3, but he is not required to attend.

The joint initial status report by prosecutors and defence lawyers said the government mailed discovery to Sidoo on April 25, before any of the other defendants named in the indictment. There is so much evidence, that discovery was provided on a hard drive and accompanying DVD. The joint filing, however, gave no details about what was contained on the devices sent to Sidoo.

“The government provided defendants with indexes where required and multiple databases in load-ready forms,” said the joint filing. “Defendants are currently reviewing this discovery. The defendants have requested that the government provide more comprehensive indices as required by [court rules] and the parties are conferring regarding this request.”

There is more to come and it will be provided on a rolling basis, approximately once a month.

The joint filing said the parties have requested an interim status conference on Oct. 2.

Mark Riddell (IMG)

The filing also reiterated a condition of release prohibiting defendants from contacting potential witnesses, but defence lawyers called it “vague and impracticable” because the government has not provided them a list of potential witnesses. Defence lawyers want such a list by June 30 that would be updated on a rolling basis if the government identifies more witnesses or co-conspirators.

Sidoo’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, was unavailable to comment on May 31.

Riddell pleaded guilty on April 12 to fraud and money laundering in the scheme hatched by mastermind Rick Singer, who admitted that he “created a side door that would guarantee families would get in.”

Prosecutors allege Riddell traveled from Tampa, Fla. to Vancouver and used false identification to pose as Dylan Sidoo to write an SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test] test on Dec. 3, 2011 at a venue that has not been disclosed.

Riddell allegedly traveled to Vancouver again, to write a test on June 9, 2012 that is described in the indictment as a “Canadian high school graduation exam.”

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

May 31, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin Prosecutors disclosed evidence to David Sidoo

Business, Miscellany, News

Exclusive: Tax breaks for Point Grey leaseholders reveal little-known city hall residential portfolio

Bob Mackin

The wife of an owner of the Vancouver Canucks and a Hollywood North producer and are among those getting a break from the NDP’s surtax on properties worth more than $3 million.

But it is not what you think.

House on civic land in Point Grey that qualifies for exemption from NDP’s so-called schools surtax (Google)

The provincial government slapped the 0.2% surtax on the value of a property assessed at over $3 million last year; the rate is 0.4% on the value over $4 million. It is officially a surtax for schools, but the funds go to general revenue.

The NDP cabinet passed an order on May 17 for the remission of any additional school tax imposed for the 2019 taxation year on 14 properties worth a combined $60.4 million in West Point Grey.

The reason for the tax break is that the properties near Jericho Beach, downhill from “billionaires row,” are ultimately owned by City of Vancouver.

“In these cases, typically the additional school and other property taxes are paid instead by the taxable person/persons leasing from the exempt owner,” said a statement from the Ministry of Finance. “Because the additional school tax applies to the full assessed value of the property and not the value of the leasehold interest, we’ve built in an exemption for these owners with homes on leasehold land with less than 30 years left on their lease.”

The exemption only applies if the lease does not include a renewal clause. Should leaseholders renew their leases, they will be charged the tax on the value over $3 million.

“This exemption has been provided so the leaseholders aren’t unfairly paying additional school tax as the value of their leasehold interest depreciates toward zero toward the end of its term.”

Vancouver city hall spokeswoman Ellie Lambert said the city did not request the exemptions for the leased residential properties.

“The province reviewed the land tenure arrangement for these properties and chose not to levy the school tax on these lessees. The city collects the tax and remits to the province,” Lambert said.

She said the city land holdings include 1,981 leasehold strata units, 34 single family homes on leased land in Champlain Heights and the 14 in Point Grey.

The 14 properties average $4.3 million assessed value. B.C. Assessment records show the two most-expensive properties are the $6.19 million house registered to Deanna T. Aquilini, wife of Roberto Aquilini, and the $5.24 million house registered to film and TV producer Shawn Michael Williamson. Had they owned the properties, they would have been hit with surtax bills of $10,760 and $6,960, respectively.

Two of the properties on Belmont and Sasamat were valued at just over the $3 million threshold. The amounts owing would have been less than $200 each.

The tax policy sparked a lawn sign campaign by BC Liberal-aligned opponents in Point Grey and Shaughnessy. Their threat to mount a recall campaign against NDP Attorney General David Eby, the Vancouver-Point Grey MLA, has not materialized.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

May 31, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin The wife of an owner of

Business, Miscellany, News

Exclusive: Mystery surrounds Craig James’s legal costs and why he was forgiven for ill-gotten gains

Bob Mackin

The acting clerk of British Columbia’s Legislature says that no payment has been made to the law firm for the clerk who retired in disgrace and the sergeant-at-arms who remains suspended.

theBreaker.news wanted to know how much it has cost taxpayers for Vancouver-based Fasken to defend Craig James and Gary Lenz.

Craig James (left) and Gary Lenz (Commonwealth Parliamentary Association)

“I am advised that the Legislative Assembly has not paid any invoices to Fasken for the [2018-19 fiscal year], nor have any invoices been received to date this fiscal year,” said Acting Clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd by email. “The last fiscal year in which Fasken received payment from the Legislative Assembly was 2007.”

When James and Lenz held a news conference in Vancouver last Nov. 26, a reporter asked them who was paying their legal bills.

“There is a policy in the Legislative Assembly where the legal fees in matters such as this would be borne by the Legislative Assembly,” James answered. “But the policy also exists that at the end of the day, if somebody is found guilty, that money would have to be repaid. It’s like the government’s indemnity program.”

His lawyer, Gavin Cameron, then interjected: “Just to be fair, I don’t think you should take from that that that’s where my fees are being paid from. I’ll leave it at that. But I don’t want that impression.”

Cameron has not responded for comment.

Dermod Travis of independent watchdog IntegrityBC said the Legislative Assembly Management Committee has an obligation to clarify who is paying the legal bills, “and whether or not those expenses are being covered by a third party.

“I’ve not known many lawyers who have taken on work like this without at least a retainer in place,” Travis said. “If they were working pro bono, that raises a whole new set of questions.”

James negotiated his 11th hour retirement on May 15 after Beverley McLachlin, the retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, found that he committed misconduct by paying himself a $257,988 pension and buying $2,150 worth of suits and $2,135.87 of luggage for personal use.

McLachlin’s May 2-delivered report did not find Lenz in misconduct, so he remains on paid suspension.

Meanwhile, McLachlin confirmed to theBreaker.news that she did not put interviewees under oath.

Her terms of reference as special investigator did not explicitly mention taking testimony under oath or by affirmation. By contrast, the enabling legislation for B.C.’s Auditor General, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Conflict of Interest Commissioner and Ombudsperson includes the power to take testimony under oath. Travis said that should have been explicitly noted in McLachlin’s report with a full explanation.

“It now casts doubt on what the two individuals may have said in their defence and it could also have an impact on the RCMP investigation,” he said.

Government House Leader Mike Farnworth tabled McLachlin’s appointment as a special investigator on March 7. The Legislature granted McLachlin “powers to compel persons to meet with the special investigator and to compel documents and other evidence, except those protected by solicitor-client privilege, to be provided to the special investigator.”

Beverley McLachlin (Jean-Marc Carisse)

McLachlin stated in her report that “it is not a legal investigation,” but was confined to finding facts related to the allegations made by Speaker Darryl Plecas in his January report about waste and corruption in James and Lenz’s offices.

“It is not my task to draw legal conclusions or provide legal opinions,” she wrote. “My investigation is independent of and unrelated to any police investigation into these matters; it is limited to administrative misconduct, ie. conformity with Legislative Assembly rules, practices or policies.”

McLachlin was paid $219,479, including her $110,250 fees, $80,537 for support staff, $17,600 for transcription and $11,093 for travel. Her former Supreme Court law clerk, lawyer Neil Abraham of BLG in Ottawa, worked with her on the project.

The Legislature voted May 16 to keep the transcripts and identity of witnesses confidential and covered by parliamentary privilege, unless authorized by the Legislature or by written agreement of all recognized party House Leaders, “if required to be produced pursuant to an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.”

In a Times Colonist commentary last weekend, Dulcie McCallum, B.C.’s former Ombudsperson, wrote that government reneged on its promise to release the full report.

“Parts of the report had been redacted. Does Robert Mueller come to mind?” wrote McCallum, who is now Nova Scotia’s information and privacy commissioner, referring to the investigation of President Donald Trump.

“Government did the right thing in taking this matter seriously with the appointment of the former chief justice. But fondness for power sometimes has a funny way of calibrating justice. Government has to finish the job by doing what’s fair and just: Release the full report.”

Green house leader Sonia Furstenau (left), NDP’s Mike Farnworth and BC Liberals’ Mary Polak (Mackin)

Meanwhile, the text of the settlement with James has also not been released. All we know is that it contains a non-disparaging clause and a so-called “non-monetary” clause. James is no longer on salary since abruptly retiring and does not have to repay the treasury for his ill-gotten gains.

Neither Farnworth nor BC Liberal house leader Mary Polak responded to theBreaker.news on May 27. Green spokeswoman Stephanie Siddon refused to arrange an interview with Green house leader Sonia Furstenau.

“Is there a clause tied to possible criminal charges and culpability?” Travis wondered. “So that, yes we’re going to let you keep all of this, but if you are charged and found guilty, you’re going to lose it all. We don’t know that.”

Could the NDP-promised expansion of the freedom of information laws to cover the Legislature someday prompt the release of the documents now withheld?

“They clearly didn’t get the message from day one on this, which is the Legislature has operated behind closed doors and dark rooms and people are fed up with it,” Travis said.

The RCMP investigation of James and Lenz continues.

Support theBreaker.news for as low as $2 a month on Patreon. Find out how. Click here.

May 28, 2019

0 Comments

Bob Mackin The acting clerk of British Columbia’s

Recent Posts

B.C. Place Stadium at 40: By the numbers

thePodcast: Looking back at the Cullen Commission on B.C.’s money laundering scandal

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s extradition hearing to be a drama in three acts next year

Canadian authorities say they did not search Meng Wanzhou’s phones or computers upon her arrival in Vancouver

Exclusive: Pee and Poo mascots “will humanize” Metro Vancouver, according to regional government bureaucrat

Exclusive: Credibility of college admissions scheme ringleader Rick Singer is a key issue, says David Sidoo’s lawyer

theBreaker.news Podcast: Speaker survives — but will the BC Liberals?

Evidence in the U.S. case against David Sidoo contained on hard drive and DVD

Exclusive: Tax breaks for Point Grey leaseholders reveal little-known city hall residential portfolio

More questions than answers as the Legislature adjourns for summer amid the ongoing corruption scandal

Why did the BC Liberals attempt a speaker coup on the last day of the spring session of the B.C. Legislature?

Why is Plecas concerned about information security?

Why are Randy Ennis and Ron Huck retiring?

Does BC Liberal house leader Mary Polak have the confidence of fellow MLAs to remain on the Legislative Assembly Management Committee or in any committee that meets formally or informally behind closed doors?

Who was this staffer that slept overnight at the Legislature?

How serious did the NDP take the offer from the BC Liberals to put one of its MLAs forward, and reduce its voting power from 42 to 41?

Where were BC Liberal MLAs Stephanie Cadieux, Marvin Hunt, Linda Larson and John Martin after 5 p.m.?

Why did Dan Ashton flip the script?

Is a caucus revolt brewing for Andrew Wilkinson?

Why did the BC Liberals leave the house?

If James, Lenz or even a member of the BC Liberal Party is charged, will the BC Liberals withdraw the script and related comments when the Legislature reconvenes in October?

Exclusive: Mystery surrounds Craig James’s legal costs and why he was forgiven for ill-gotten gains

About Us

Contact

Support theBreaker.news

Follow on Twitter

Free newsletter sign-up