| R. v. Basi. | |||||||||
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| Hearing: July 10, 2008 Judgment: November 19, 2009 |
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| Court membership | |||||||||
| Chief Justice: McLachlin C.J |
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| Reasons given | |||||||||
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Unanimous reason by: McLachlin C.J |
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| BC Legislature Raids |
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| Events |
| Timeline 2009 federal appeal (secret witness) BC Rail Corrupion Trial |
| People |
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Accused
Dave Basi Aneal Basi Bobby Virk Informants
Erik Bornmann Special Prosecutor
William Berardino Journalists
Bill Tieleman |
| Organizations |
| BC Rail OmniTRAX CN CP Pilothouse Communications BNSF Ferroequus BC Liberals "E Division", RCMP |
R. v. Basi, 2009 SCC 52 is a landmark decision by Supreme Court of Canada where the Court weighed the rights of the defendant versus the privileges of an informant in an important trial into alleged government corruption.
Contents |
Three employees of the provincial government of British Columbia were charged with corruption and breach of trust following the BC Legislature Raids.
On Dec. 6, 2007, BC Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruled against a pre-trial Crown request to exclude defence lawyers from an in-camera hearing on information involving a police informant.
The BC Court of Appeal split 2-1 in upholding the trial judge's decision. This allowed the defendants' lawyers to be present during a hearing regarding disclosure of documents to the defence that involved a police informant.
The nation's highest court heard the appeal on July 10, 2008. Intervenors were the Director of Public Prosecutions of Canada, Attorney General of Ontario, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Criminal Lawyers’ Association (Ontario).
The unanimous (7-0) judgment was written by McLachlin C.J.
As of 2010, the court had removed its decision from its website: "The reasons for this decision have been temporarily removed from the site following a publication ban pronounced on March 4, 2010 by the Supreme Court of British Columbia."