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Basi-Virk: Lobbyists sent e-mail to deputy AG

B.C.'s Deputy Attorney General was directly contacted by his first name in a 2005 e-mail from two lobbyists whose offices were searched by police in the B.C. Rail corruption investigation during the police raid on the B.C. Legislature in 2003, confidential government documents reveal.

Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel received an e-mail - addressed "Dear Allan" - on April 30, 2005 from Jamie Elmhirst, a lobbyist who was partners with key Crown witnesses Erik Bornmann and Brian Kieran.

Police searched Pilothouse Public Affairs offices in December 2003 before corruption charges were laid against government aides David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi in 2004.

New Democratic Party MLA Leonard Krog, whose B.C. Supreme Court application made 8,000 pages of government documents public, calls the e-mail "very concerning."

Shawn Robins, Attorney General's ministry spokesperson, said Seckel "might know Jamie Elmhirst and he might have met Brian Kieran" but that there was no relationship with them.

"Other than to say that they're entitled to reach out to deputy ministers, it's just a pro forma business contact," said Robins. "They probably had a list of deputy ministers and sent it to them."

Kieran and Bornmann are alleged in court documents to have provided money to David Basi and Virk, two ex-ministerial assistants charged with allegedly leaking confidential government information on the $1 billion privatization of B.C. Rail to Pilothouse, which was retained by losing bidder OmniTRAX.

Neither Bornmann, Kieran, Elmhirst nor OmniTRAX face any charges.

Elmhirst wrote Seckel to tell him that he and Kieran were "proud to announce a re-branding our public affairs partnership" and ask Seckel to "update your contact records." The next five pages of documents are blanked.

Justice Elizabeth Bennett ordered Wednesday that the NDP, media and public have access to confidential documents obtained by defence counsel through Freedom Of Information requests.

Bill Tieleman writes a column for 24 hours and appears regularly on The Hook.

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