No quick fix for special prosecutor system
VICTORIA The B.C. government will wait until the COVID -19 pandemic subsides before investigating a special prosecutor system that’s plagued by delays, says the attorney general.
But an early examination of what might be slowing down politically sensitive cases — involving MLAs and political staffers — has already highlighted at least one problem.
Attorney General David Eby said preliminary work by his staff found the RCMP unit assigned to investigate cases overseen by special prosecutors is the same shortstaffed and overworked unit that handles money laundering.
“The investigations are typically done by the RCMP commercial crime unit, and this is the same unit that we have learned is so under-resourced on money laundering as well,” said Eby. “They do what they can with the resources they have. But it may be that, to address the issue, there would need to be some resources dedicated to sensitive investigations.”
A public inquiry into money laundering is currently exploring how criminals launder proceeds of crime through B.C. casinos, including whether police resources are inadequate.
One way to address the shortcomings might be for B.C. to dedicate funding to the RCMP unit and earmark it for politically sensitive special prosecutor cases, said Eby.
The funding would need to be separate from B.C.’s demand that Ottawa fully fund the commercial crime unit’s money laundering positions, he said.
“Unfortunately, the federal funding is headed in the wrong direction, so if there was going to be support for this, it would probably need to be provincial,” Eby said on Thursday.
But the government must first reduce court backlogs and fix other critical justice system problems caused by the COVID -19 pandemic, before it dedicates resources to reforming the special prosecutor system, said Eby.
And the province won’t make any changes until it gets support from other political parties to investigate the issue in a united and non-partisan manner, he said.
Opposition Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said he’s supportive of reforms.
“Justice delayed is justice denied, and the public is entitled to know promptly what’s going on when a public official is accused of wrongdoing,” he said.
“The current special prosecutor system has proven to be cumbersome, slow and leaves people in the lurch for years at a time, when the public is entitled to know what’s going on promptly.”
B.C.’s special prosecutor system appoints private lawyers to oversee police investigations into politicians and political officials, to avoid any perception that the attorney general, premier or government staffers are trying to influence the outcome or whether charges are laid.
But most cases take years to conclude, during which police and the special prosecutor refuse to provide information on allegations or updates on timelines.
Because the cases often involve politicians or staff, political parties use the information vacuum to accuse each other of vast corruption, even if the specific allegations are later determined to be unfounded.
Premier John Horgan said in April the system needs reform.
His comments came after a sixmonth police investigation concluded allegations against former cabinet minister Jinny Sims were unsubstantiated. Nonetheless, Sims was forced to resign as a minister.