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'The matter is closed': Libs tight-lipped on bribe allegations

Here's more evidence why the British Columbia Legislature's Question Period is not called Question and Answer Period.

For the third consecutive day, the opposition NDP failed to extract answers from the ruling BC Liberals about ex-multiculturalism communications director Brian Bonney's alleged plot to bribe Sepideh Sarrafpour in order to prevent the government caucus liaison from disclosing information that could damage Premier Christy Clark or her party.

While NDP leader Adrian Dix is demanding an independent investigation into the so-called quick wins scandal, the Liberals steadfastly claim there is no need, because of the in-house review by the premier's deputy minister, John Dyble, and the party's May 14 election win.

"I can't understand why the leader of the opposition would like to refight the last election," said Multiculturalism Minister Teresa Wat. "The Dyble report was released prior to the election. The topic was canvassed extensively in the House prior to the election. You were all there."

But, the NDP pointed out, the Sept. 18, 2012 Bonney email at the centre of the controversy was deliberately withheld from the public until after the election, as part of nearly 8,000 pages that were gathered by Dyble during the hasty, two-week March review of the Multicultural Outreach Strategy.

Sarrafpour, who told Global BC she was offered a job but not money, was not interviewed by Dyble. Neither was BC Liberal campaign director Mike McDonald, who was Clark's chief of staff when the ethnic vote-wooing strategy was devised in late 2011 and early 2012. Dyble did not respond to a Tyee email query about the latest revelations.

"This report and this scheme was designed by the Liberals to be incomplete," said ex-NDP leader Carole James. "It was designed to give the appearance of being complete without actually being complete. There was absolutely no authority to investigate the Liberal caucus, no authority to investigate the Liberal Party."

For the second consecutive day, Minister of Citizens' Services Andrew Wilkinson tried to take the heat off outmatched fellow rookie Wat.

"The processes of this government encourage probity and transparency," Wilkinson claimed.

"That is what this party did immediately that this matter came to light. The necessary documents were disclosed to the necessary working panel, an objective panel. Now the members opposite don't want to just flog the dead horse; they want an autopsy on the dead horse. There has been an independent investigation. The matter is closed."

NDP critic Shane Simpson, whose opposition portfolio includes legislative accountability, asked whether the Ministry of Justice's legal services branch has followed through on the Dyble recommendation to secure any government records in possession of former public servants and caucus employees named in the report.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong, the top-ranking Liberal in the Legislature, did not answer Simpson, but instead referred to the NDP grilling as "manufactured outrage."

De Jong made a vague reference to longtime NDP caucus liaison officer and perennial candidate Gabriel Yiu and to a 1994 letter by a high-ranking NDP cabinet minister that discussed a "political management vehicle" within government.

"Now, who might have been the author of that memo? Well, he's the president of the New Democratic Party today," de Jong said. "That was Moe Sihota.”

There is no evidence to suggest Yiu or Sihota ever cooked up a scheme to offer hush money to an aide.

But the Liberals are facing that allegation and are offering no substantial answers in their own defence or willingness to submit to an independent probe.

Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin is a frequent contributor to The Tyee.

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