“It’s Magic!” (2)
The loss of thousands of cabinet and executive branch e-mails concerning the biggest privatization deal in British Columbia’s history is so shocking that defence lawyers in a politically charged trial still can’t believe it has happened.
Both inside and outside the Supreme Court of B.C. yesterday, lawyers were expressing disbelief that e-mails from 2001 to 2005 related to the $1-billion sale of BC Rail could have been purged from the government’s data system while a trial concerning the deal was before the courts.
“At the moment, our view is that these must be recoverable,” said Michael Bolton, who, together with other defence attorneys, has sent a letter to the government’s lawyer asking for a detailed explanation of how a data search was done.
“We don’t accept at face value that these things have been lost … because e-mails are recoverable as long as there are backup or storage tapes,” Mr. Bolton said.
Court was told on Monday that e-mails being sought by the lawyers defending three former provincial employees – Dave Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi – are not recoverable because the government doesn’t keep electronic backup tapes more than 13 months.
Wiped out, according to George Copley, a lawyer representing the B.C. Executive Council, are four years of tapes covering the crucial period when the government negotiated the sale of BC Rail to CN Rail.
Mr. Copley filed affidavits from government officials saying none of the e-mails can be recovered.
[More]
Updates:
7:19 am EDT, June 24th, 2009 — Alexander: Hints of Nixon In B.C. Liberal Rail Affair
Notes:
Off topic but CTV is now reporting that Romeo Leblanc has passed away.
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mike Says:
The dog ate my homework. If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny. Sorta gives ammo to the “I don’t vote anymore” crowd.
mid island mike
Posted on June 24th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Jack Says:
Who would have “thunk it”, Mike?
However, computers being what computers are I can understand it. If lawyers want all the details a new law is going to have to be drafted and hard copies printed out.
Otherwise, anyone with a powerful magnet in his pocket can cause a lot of damage.
“Poof — it’s gone.”
Posted on June 24th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Lindsay Says:
Odd how the story has changed from the original Globe article …
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/four-years-of-bc-cabinet-e-mails-erased/article1192835/
“… the defence has yet to establish that the material is relevant.”
“I’m not keen on having these individuals [responsible for managing government records] cross-examined…If the documents are not recoverable it doesn’t mean anything unless you [first] establish likely relevance,” she said.
… Justice Bennett
Okay … so delete the evidence and there’s no foul?
“The Corporate Information Management Branch, which provides guidelines for government employees, states that e-mails must be copied to a central document management directory before individuals delete them from their personal files.”
So, we’re not talking about the normal backup-tape repositories (13 months, 1 year) but a separate keep-7-years-for-legal-reasons repository. They’re deliberately confusing the two.
Another reason why, 1st time ever, I voted for a non-conservative party. Campbell and his crew lost my confidence in their integrity and foresight a couple of years ago.
Posted on June 24th, 2009 at 9:27 pm