Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 01 Mar, 2022 01:30 PM
VANCOUVER - A special prosecutor says British Columbia's former clerk of the legislative assembly used public funds to enrich himself in "glaring and egregious" ways.
Brock Martland made the allegation as he began closing arguments in the Crown's case against Craig James, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of breach of trust.
James's defence is expected to present its case Wednesday.
Martland says that as the most senior officer of the legislature, James held a position akin to the CEO and was responsible for financial stewardship of the institution.
He accused James of acting outside of his duties by picking up a wood splitter and trailer for the legislature and storing them at home for a year, exploiting a weakness in the system to award himself a $258,000 retirement benefit and charging souvenirs to the public purse.
Martland says public trust in government officials is a critical part of a functioning democracy, and he alleged that James violated that trust.
"This case is about trust, specifically the public trust that we place in government officials," Martland told the court on Tuesday.
"Our position is that the public trust was violated repeatedly and extensively by Craig James."
The police board says it launched a review of the department's protocols when Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter were handcuffed after trying to open an account at the Bank of Montreal using their government-issued status cards.
On October 16 just before 3 p.m., cleaning staff at the safe injection site near Pender and Abbott streets found what are now known as two replica pipe bombs inside the toilets. Staff believed they were imitation bombs and turned them over to police. VPD’s Emergency Response Team Bomb Technician attended and safely destroyed the device.
Police seized 151 oxycodone pills, 51 morphine pill, and 21 grams of cocaine, which was packaged for street level sale. In addition to the illegal drugs, officers seized $4685 in cash along with the vehicle being used to facilitate the offences.
Police are very concerned for Shewanie's health and well-being and friends and family report that it is out of character for her to be out of contact for this long.
The study compares oil, gas and coal production forecasts from 15 countries to what they need to be for climate change to be kept manageable. It finds those forecasts add up to more than double what's consistent with the goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Time is ticking down on a 30-day legal window for the Liberal government to appeal a decision released by the Federal Court on Sept. 29 upholding rulings by a human rights tribunal around services and compensation for First Nations children.
