Attorney-General Wally Oppal is defending the secrecy that surrounded seven months of work by a special prosecutor investigating the possible role of his brother in a questionable land deal.
Since February, a special prosecutor has been looking into what a prosecution-service statement described as a "potentially illegal land transaction" in the Fraser Valley involving several parties, including Harry Oppal.
But the Criminal Justice Branch of Mr. Oppal's ministry, essentially the wing that handles prosecutions, disclosed the special prosecutor's work only in the past few days, even though the minister was briefed on the probe from its start.
"When a special prosecutor is appointed, I have nothing to do with it, and make no statements about that," Mr. Oppal said yesterday in a voice mail responding to a query about the issue.
"The branch does all of that, and particularly if there's an investigation. We don't say anything about investigations. They did all of that. All comments should come from them.
"That's all I can really say," Mr. Oppal said.
A branch spokesman defended Mr. Oppal from criticism for saying nothing about the matter. The branch has frequently announced the work of special prosecutors early on in their assignments.
"It would have been improper for him to do so, improper for him to comment at all [during the investigation to date] basically because you want to preserve the interests of the investigation," said Stan Lowe, communications counsel for the branch.
"The fact that it involved his brother, he could not have made any comments. [Mr. Oppal]did exactly what should have been done: remain more than arms length away from the entire matter."
Mr. Lowe said the minister "received only the most minimal briefings in this matter," adding that "it was clear he was not going to, in any way, take part or make inquiries."
Mr. Lowe said several "triggers" have to be activated before the work of special prosecutors is made public. These include media inquiries that convince the branch the case is no longer secret - which is what prompted the statement on the case of Harry Oppal. Other triggers are the laying of charges or police disclosures that bring cases to light.
"This protocol we have in place is really a balancing of the interests of fairness to the accused, the privacy interests of the accused as well as the right of the public to know," Mr. Lowe said.
"You don't want to interfere with the integrity of any ongoing investigation. When this first came to light in February, there was a potential of interference with the integrity of a police investigation, plus, at the time, there was privacy interests and reputations of individuals involved. You have to remember: There have not been any charges. And it's unusual for us to comment at this stage, save and except it met our threshold of being in the public domain."
The NDP critic on the file said yesterday there was something odd about the whole matter, noting the branch has previously announced the efforts of special prosecutors at various points during investigations.
"What's the difference in this case?" asked Leonard Krog, the NDP justice critic.
Prompted by a media query, the branch has disclosed that an independent special prosecutor was appointed after an investigation by the Financial Institutions Commission of B.C. into allegations of possible misconduct by individuals associated with a land sale in Abbotsford. According to a branch statement, the commission submitted a report to Crown counsel in February regarding allegations of "a potentially illegal land transaction" in the Fraser Valley community.
Victoria lawyer Harold Rusk was appointed a special prosecutor on Feb. 28, but had to step down for personal reasons. On Sept. 6, Vancouver lawyer George Macintosh was appointed. Mr. Lowe said it will be up to Mr. Macintosh to decide on the timing of further comments.
"It's entirely up to the discretion of the independent special prosecutor," he said.
Ian Bailey