David Basi accepted roughly $27,000 from Colorado-based OmniTrax for confidential government information into the sale of B.C. Rail, Crown prosecutors intend to prove.

During his opening statement to the jury at the Basi-Virk trial - which finally began Tuesday following the unprecedented RCMP raid on the B.C. Legislature Dec. 28, 2003 - prosecutor Bill Berardino laid out the series of events between March 2002 and December 2003 that saw ministerial assistants David Basi and Bobby Virk get charged with breach of trust and accepting bribes in relation to the B.C. Rail bidding process.

Aneal Basi also faces a money laundering charge in connection to the case.

David Basi, ministerial aid to Finance Minister Gary Collins, was appointed to be Collins' "eyes and ears" into the sale of government-owned BC Rail and report back to the minister.

Bobby Virk was the ministerial assistant to Judith Reid, the minister of transportation at the time, and attended the evaluation committee meetings so he can brief Reid on the bidding process.

Both had access to the specific bid amounts of CN Rail, CP Rail and OmniTrax and knew first-hand the committee's assessment of each bid and discussions about the sale within cabinet.

On top of the public oaths they swore while taking office, they signed agreements to keep the information confidential, the jury is expected to hear. Instead, Basi provided Pilot House - who were hired by OmniTrax to lobby on their behalf - with the details of each bid and other confidential information pertaining to the sale.

In exchange, Berardino says evidence will show Basi had Pilot House send regular payments to Aneal Basi between July 19, 2002 and Jan. 8, 2004 totalling $27,000. Aneal then transferred $25,000 to Basi's bank account between July 19, 2002 to Dec. 11, 2003.

On top of the monetary bribes, Crown contends both Basi and Virk, and their wives, were treated to a trip to Denver in early November of 2002, where they took in a Denver Broncos NFL game.

OmniTrax also footed the bill for multiple dinner meetings with the pair, totalling about $20,000.

About 30 witnesses are expected to be called by Crown during the six-week trial, beginning with Martyn Brown, the chief of staff for B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell. B.C. Rail was sold to CN Rail for $1 billion in 2003.

The trial continues.

Matt Kieltyka reports for 24 Hours Vancouver.