RCMP finds no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by B.C. MLA Jinny Sims

VICTORIA -- British Columbia’s prosecution service says NDP legislature member Jinny Sims will not face charges following an RCMP investigation and the appointment of a special prosecutor last fall.

In a statement, the prosecution service says the RCMP investigation into allegations of criminal wrongdoing against Sims found no evidence to support the accusations and the investigation has concluded.

Special prosecutor Richard Peck, who was appointed last October, says there will no charges and there is no further action to take.

Sims resigned as minister of citizens’ services following the announcement of Peck’s appointment and said she was confident her name would be cleared. Sims, who also said she did not know what the RCMP investigation was about, continued to sit in the legislature as the member for Surrey-Panorama. The Opposition B.C. Liberals accused Sims in the legislature of using personal emails to allegedly circumvent the province’s freedom of information laws and of writing letters to support visa applications for 10 Pakistani citizens who were on a security watch list. It is not known if the allegations about Sims’s personal email or the reference letters were the subject of the RCMP investigation.

In a statement last October, Sims dismissed “previous public allegations” that were made against her as having “no credibility.” She did not say what allegations she was referring to. Sims has denied any wrongdoing in the use of her emails.

She told the legislature last year that she did not see the final draft of the sponsorship letters, which were sent out with her electronic signature.“I take responsibility for what happened,” she added. “When I became aware of the issue, I immediately had a serious conversation with the staff to ensure that it would not happen again.”