AG seeks access to private BC Rail files

Watchdog seeking records of Victoria’s legal indemnity program

The B. C. auditor general is asking the B. C. Supreme Court to give his office access to all government documents, including privileged files between a lawyer and client and all cabinet documents.

In proceedings this week, John Doyle is seeking a court order to get access to all records of the B. C. government’s legal fee indemnity program for public servants. The policy, started in the 1980s, helps pay the legal expenses of public servants in legal cases that arise from the performance of their jobs.

Doyle is attempting to review about 100 indemnity cases.

But the most controversial is a government decision to pay an estimated $ 6 million in legal bills run up by Dave Basi and Bob Virk, two ex- B. C. Liberal staffers who pleaded guilty to corruption charges in the BC Rail case two years ago.

The government has given Doyle several boxes of documents, saying it is co- operating fully with his efforts, but the auditor general wants a court order giving him access to other information covered by lawyer- client privilege.

During a break in the case Tuesday, Vancouver lawyer Louis Zivot said lawyer- client privilege would still be protected because the auditor general simply gets to see the information for the purpose of the audit.

The auditor general acts as a watchdog on government spending and programs.

“If we have to spend our time negotiating with people in obtaining waivers ( over privileged files), we are never going to get any audits done,” said Zivot.

Of the 100 people who have indemnity files the auditor general wants to review, 28 have agreed to waive lawyer- client privilege, allowing auditors to inspect their files, said Zivot.

But Basi and Virk have not agreed to allow auditors access to all their files, in particular files held by two private lawyers who did work for the B. C. government on reviewing the legal- fee payments.