Okay, it's not the mystery of the Sphinx but... yesterday's testimony by former Harper special counsel Ben Perrin goes a long way to explaining why Duffy stands alone charged with bribery.
Bribery is a crime of giving and taking so, unless the giver or the taker is dead, there should be two people charged. Except in this case. Just the one, the Cavendish Cottager. It's the stuff of magic, a glimpse into the Dark Arts of the state police apparatus.
Presumably Wright might have been charged with giving the very bribe Duffy is charged with receiving - except that might have dragged in half of Harper's PMO as accessories. Wright, Novak, Perrin, Van Hemmen, Woodcock - they all apparently knew about it. They all facilitated the deal. They all participated and, presumably, that includes Shifty Harper himself. A classic conspiracy.
Think this isn't a political prosecution?
Way back when Wright was "cleared" I wrote that the state police agency had to take Wright off the hook because that took everyone else, including Harper, off the hook. If Wright stood trial, he wasn't going to go down alone. He'd take the rest with him.
And so we have this travesty of an investigation leading to a travesty of a prosecution all revolving around a theory of money that magically transformed into a bribe once it reached Duffy's hands. Voodoo Justice.
By the way, Shifty. When your
Thanks for explaining the reasoning of why the RCMP are turning a blind eye to Nigel Wright, as him having so many accomplices. I also think Donald Bayne is going to get Duffy off, and its all because they refuse to pull Nigel and Shiftys cabal under any real scrutiny.
ReplyDeletetoo bad Rocco Galati doesnt dabble in political corruption cases. I would love if he charged the PMO and Wright with the list of corruption offenses they deserve
perhaps someone will be able to charge this group in Nov/December, once we have a new PM( fingers crossed)
After what Perrin has admitted in the easy part of his testimony, while he's testifying in chief for the Crown, I'm left wondering what Bayne has in store for him on cross-examination.
ReplyDeleteIt really seems like the foundation is being created to seek dismissal of the charges based on investigatorial and prosecutorial misconduct. This whole 'virgin birth' bribery prosecution surely reaches the level where it brings the administration of justice into disrepute, a finding that, under the Charter, would permit the judge to enter an acquittal.
Bayne would probably hold off, waiting to get the evidence of other players into the record, before moving for dismissal.
There's also an overlooked issue. Duffy, it seems, is waiting for the end of this trial to launch defamation actions against a gaggle of Tories he feels done him wrong. How else is he going to pay Bayne's legal bill? The evidence Bayne keeps harvesting from witnesses in this trial will be ammunition for those civil suits which probably has some bearing on why he's being so methodical.
BTW - I think Perrin sees these civil actions coming too. The way he didn't even acknowledge the pack of reporters who beset him as he left the courthouse indicates a guy who knows when to keep his mouth shut.
ReplyDeleteAll the dark birds are coming home to roost, Mound.
ReplyDeleteI maybe missing something here but shouldn't the Mounties be charged with something? They failed to release Perrin's full statement initially didn't they?
ReplyDelete