John van Dongen examines the BC Rail Scandal

John van Dongen applies for intervener status into corruption court case. Interesting. Monday he applied to be a party to a court case launched by the auditor-general, who is trying to find out why the two defendants in the B.C. Rail corruption trial had their $6-million lawyer fees paid for by B.C. taxpayers.

Van Dongen, MLA for Abbotsford South, left the B.C. Liberals in March, citing the decision on the legal fees for ministerial assistants David Basi and Bob Virk, as one of his main reasons for leaving. Van Dongen has every right to be concerned. The subsequent editorial in the Vancouver Province explains why.

It gives the outrageous example of how a woman in his riding was completely shafted. She's a disabled mom who lives with her disabled son on a small disability pension. The woman's brother, who lives in Alberta, recently decided to give her a used car to make her life a little easier.

But then the B.C. government demanded she pay $700 in taxes on the gift. When she couldn't afford that, she tried to give the car back to her brother, but the government said she still owed them the money. "She came to my office a couple of times, completely distraught," van Dongen told the columnist. "We tried for weeks to get her some help, with no success."

First of all, the woman shouldn’t have had to pay $700.00 for a gift in the first place. Making her pay after she returned the gift was absurd. Compare that to the $6 million those same people blew on a couple of idiots who plead guilty in the BC Rail case is astounding.

Holding a public inquiry as to why they paid Basi Virk’s legal fees is pretty pointless. We all know it was a scam. They proclaimed their innocence to stall it off and as soon as Gordon Campbell and some other high ranking members of the party were going to be implicated, they copped a plea to censor the evidence. Yet it’s a court hearing not a public inquiry. Perhaps some of the missing evidence can be recalled.

This is just another example of the kind of heartless extremes that we need to address. Letting the rich pay zero tax while the poor have to make up the difference is wrong. Making these huge tax dollar expenditures to cover up fraud is outrageous.

The BC Rail case was bad enough. Selling public assets to your friends who profit from the taxpayers loss and in return give the corrupt politicians a kickback. Nothing surprising or earth shattering there. Just like Harpers conflicted Jets. It’s not surprising but it is wrong.

As bad as the BC Rail case is, despite the fact that Gordon Campbell was going to be implicated along with Christy Clark and her brother, that is just the tip of the iceberg. The real dilemma of the BC rail fraud was the reason the RCMP got a search warrant in the first place. Because of Basi’s ties to his cousin who was convicted of cocaine trafficking. It was a huge operation. Bassi was accused of money laundering through real estate. Those charges never happened after they copped a plea. Clearly the depth and extent of the BC Rail fraud still needs to be examined.

Vancouver's Quiet Places

I finally made it out to the mountains yesterday afternoon. I've been getting antsy like a bird in a cage. Like everywhere, Vancouver has some nice quiet places to get away from the insanity of city life. This was our home before the Hells Angels came here. In fact, they never did come. Just a few local wannabes exploited the name and reputation to sell crack and profit from crime. Now somebody wants to put a cap in my ass. Big surprise. Perhaps putting a cap in my ass will simply make the police do it themselves and put bar watch online. Be careful what you wish for.

The Podcasts have begun

To kick off the Kelowna Summer Jam, the Gangsters out web site has gone retro and started podcasting in mp3. Now you can listen to us on the way to work on your mp3 player as we talk about the latest gang issues that affect us. The heat is on this summer in Kelowna.

Robert B. Nichols, John P. Ellis and the Bayou Hedge funds

Robert B. Nichols and his wife were the owners of a US dollar bank account in London, England that was seized in the Bayou bankruptcy case. Nichols sued trying to get the money back. The United States government contended that the funds in the account belong to Samuel Israel III.

April 2004 Nichols met Israel and discussed investment opportunities. Nichols became his financial advisor and was paid $10 million by Israel for his services. A portion of that fee was deposited into the account in question in London, England.

Nichols claimed his services were separate from Bayou Management Ltd. The financial press published Israel’s success with the Bayou Group. Nichols claimed that he was not aware that Israel breached any obligation to the Bayou Group and owed them any money.

Confirmation of the governments sanction and legitimacy of the project was communicated to Nichols by John P. Ellis who at the time was affiliated with GH Venture Partners of New York. Mr. Ellis is the first cousin of George W. Bush and his material involvement with President Bush’s political campaign (particularly in Florida) was reported in the general press.

Nichols relied on statements made by Ellis with regards to the legitimacy of the project and of Israel. He claims he only became aware of the criminal allegations against Israel after they became public in September 2005.

However, the lawyers claim it was a fraudulent transfer from Bayou Management before it went bankrupt with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the Bayou creditors. They contend that Robert B. Nichols did not receive the fraudulent transfer in good faith and or knew it was a fraudulent transfer.

In 2004 Israel sought to invest in a series of prime bank instrument trading banks in Europe. He hired Robert B. Nichols to find financial instruments that were bone fide obligations of the Department of Treasury of the United States of America.

The Bayou Entities turned into a massive fraudulent investment scheme which created and controlled private pooled investment funds. During the course of the fraud, the Bayou Entities attracted more than $450 million in investments for their Hedge Funds.

After suffering millions of dollars in losses, the Bayou Entities attempted to stay afloat and prolong the scheme by disclosing false investment performance and creating false financial statements. The Bayou Entities also attempted to conceal their losses through a series of fraudulent transfers. After the Bayou Entities fraudulent investment scheme collapsed, there was $250 million in principle unpaid to hundreds of creditors.

Three days after the fraudulent transfer which was the subject of the court case, Israel transferred $10 million to Nichols. The $10 million was not from Israel’s personal funds. It was from the fraudulent transfer from Bayou Management before it went bankrupt.

The Bayou entities were involved in a series of fraudulent actions and transactions in furtherance of a criminal investment scheme. Israel and Daniel E. Marino directed and controlled the business of Bayou Entities from their inception through August 2005. Both have plead guilty and have been sentenced to federal counts of mail and wire fraud, investment advisor fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud relating to their operation of the Bayou Hedge Funds.

On or about April 2004, virtually all of the contents of the Bayou Hedge Funds’ brokerage accounts were wired to a bank account titled “Bayou Management LLC Special Account.” On or about July 8 2004, Israel caused $120 million be transferred from Bayou Management to a bank account in Israel’s name at Deutsche Postbank in Hamburg, Germany. (What the courts referred to as The Fraudulent Transfer) Israel and the Bayou entities failed to disclose the Fraudulent Transfer to the Bayou Hedge Funds investor creditors. Gee that sounds very similar to what CONrad Black did in his case. Turns out Guy Lawson has just written a book about Samuel Israel's involvement in the Bayou Hedge Fund fraud.

Recent Vancouver Gang Violence – The Exterminator

We all know about the 2009 Vancouver gang war which peaked a few years after the Surrey Six murder. Now let’s take a look and the recent outbreak of Vancouver gang violence. It started in 2011 and has started to heat up again recently. The most famous of which was the murder of the despised Jonathon Bacon in Kelowna. After that, there has been a series of exterminations.

Not likely in retaliation because it is very unlikely the Dhure or Dhak group had anything to do with the Kelowna hit. It appears that one small group of drug dealers that don’t work for the Hells Angels are being exterminated. Unlike with the Independent Soldiers or the Red Scorpions, they aren’t trying to take over this group, they are wiping them off the face of the earth simply to maintain exclusive control over the Vancouver drug trade.

Khun-Khun September 16 2011

Billy Woo October 2 2011

Stephen Leone October 22 2011

Sandip (Dip) Duhre January 17 2012

Sean Beaver and Stephen Leone’s brother January 21 2012

Tom Gisby April 28 2012 murdered in Mexico

Nicholas Lucier May 1 1012 arrested in Mexico

Ranj Cheema May 2 2012

It all reminds me of the infamous words of Eric Sandburg to Agent 22 from a Hells Angels puppet club in Winnipeg called the Zig Zag crew when he was visiting Vancouver. Eric Sandburg told the Hells Angels associate that he could get him any gun he wanted and that they were ready to wipe out all the competition in Surrey. Indeed they were. Not only is the Hells Angels violent control of the drug trade concerning, but so is the deranged level of violence that goes along with it.

Jarrod Bacon sentenced to 12 years

Jarrod Bacon has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for drug conspiracy charges. His brother Jonathon was gunned down in Kelowna with Larry Amero and his other brother Jamie is on trial for his involvement with the Surrey Six Murder. Jamie was also an associate of Kevin LeClair. Kevin was shot dead and trained at Revolution in Langley which has ties to the Hells Angels.

Nicholas Lucier busted in Mexico

Nicholas Lucier who was wanted by police in connection with a lage cocaine bust in Victoria back in 2009 has just been arrested in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. This is the same town where his associate Tom Gisby was gunned down last week.

Another Vancouver gangster bites the dust

The Vancouver gang war has reignited and there is a lot of new information coming in. Long time gangster Ranj Cheema was shot to death in front of his parents’ East 61st Avenue house Wednesday. The 43-year old was once an ally of the late Bindy Johal, before turning against the admitted trafficker. He was also an associate of the late Tom Gisby and others who have been shot and/or killed in recent months. Cheema was a one-time associate of Tom Gisby, killed in Mexico Saturday. He also was close to Billy Woo, killed and dumped near Squamish last fall.

It's hard to pin down who is who in all the former Indo Canadian gang violence. For many years they were killing each other. That was in the days of Bindy Johal. Things have changed considerably since then. Now the Hells Angels control everything. The Independent Soldiers are no longer Independent. The common thread in all these recent murders is an association with the Dhures and a former association with the Hells Angels. Being close with Billy Woo would also imply a Hells Angels hit list connection since Billy Woo used to be affiliated with the Hells Angels but was likely executed for his Dhak connections.

Yet Kim Bolan is reporting that before Cheema went to jail in 2008, he was a rival of Sandip (Dip) Duhre, who was gunned down at the Wall Centre in January. That one doesn't fit the puzzle. The common thread is that the Hells Angels are wiping the Dhure and Dhak group off the face of the earth to secure their violent monopoly on the Vancouver drug trade.

A Balance between the Extremes

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. I really think it’s important that we see through the ridiculous stereotypes and find a balance between both dramatic extremes so we don’t get led astray by either side or rather either extreme.

There was some discussion in the Vancouver Province today about how the minimum wage has finally been raised to a humane level after being frozen by the Campbell government for so long. One person wrote in with the ridiculous perception that minimum wages are a Marxist ideal and we need to pay people what they are worth. Don’t get me started. Human beings are worth a lot more than ten dollars an hour. Greed redefines worth in terms of how much money we make which is absurd. Here we have a coveting Capitalist who wants to get rich by employing slave labour. Saying a minimum wage is Marxist will create a knee jerk reaction. People will say, well if that’s Marxism then I guess I’m a Marxist. Only it isn’t Marxism, it’s common sense.

Many people define capitalism as democracy. However, that isn’t necessarily true. Capitalism can also be described as greed. Always wanting more than someone else. Technically, imperialism could be defined as capitalism. The old era of colonization where you conquer a country and exploit them with taxation without representation. That is what the Boston Tea party and the American Revolution was all about.

The purpose of the American Revolution was not to say we don’t want England to tax us, we want to become our own empire so we can conquer and tax others. The purpose of the American Revolution was to establish a free republic where democracy, free speech and human rights are protected. Provide for the common defense meant to help others find democracy and freedom. It didn’t mean exploiting others through greed. The oil wars have started to change that. That is why the constitution is in jeopardy.

It’s not about the poor being jealous of the rich. It’s about protecting the poor from being exploited by the rich. When the rich steal from the public purse by committing investment fraud, that is wrong. When the rich pay zero income tax while the poor pick up the tab, that is wrong. Those are valid concerns. Yet throwing out the baby with the bath water is not the answer. Waving the Communist hammer and sickle is concerning.

My father used to say Communism works in theory but it doesn’t work in practice. That’s because historically we have always seen some rich elitist take over the workers revolution and change the agenda by poisoning the dream. Under Stalin, the striking university students would face riot police using live ammunition. People could argue that the striking students in Montreal wouldn’t be striking in a Communist dictatorship because university would be free. Yet if you’re grades weren’t high enough you wouldn’t be let in. The bottom line is that free speech and lawful assembly did not exist in Stalin’s empire. It wasn’t a free republic. In East Berlin, when the Berlin wall was still up, the machine guns pointed inward. To prevent it’s citizens from escaping.

Stephen Harper likes to throw around the socialist word a lot. He said if you don’t vote for me, you’re a socialist or a separatist. Again that’s counter productive. I don’t agree with Harper so I guess that makes me a socialist. Yet there is a better way.

Instead of saying Capitalism represents democracy because that isn’t necessarily true, we need to establish that a free republic represents democracy. Empires or dictatorships don’t. Within a free republic you can define boundaries. You can protect individual rights and aspire to collective rights at the same time. This is within a constitutional government. Like Maximus helped set up for Rome in the movie Gladiator.

This whole nonsense of breaking windows and vandalizing things concerns me. If that is your quest you can not only count me out, but you lose my support as well as a great deal of public support. Responding with a clenched fist that says, I don’t care what the public think. I will break things and hold them at ransom, is wrong. That’s no different than the capitalists. The only difference is that you want to be the one on top exploiting others.

I will however say this: Neocons always run around like chicken little and cry the left will tax and spend, the left will tax and spend, the sky will fall if we vote for the left. Yet their own pork barrel politics is taxing and spending more than the left ever did. The only difference is they spend it on different things. Neocons spend the money on their rich friends who give them kickbacks by donating to their campaign. The left spend it on the elderly, the disabled and the homeless. The left builds the kind of world I want to live in.

Harpers obsession with big business and oil monopolies is anything but a free market where small business can participate. Big business squeeze out small business and prevent them from existing. Historically it was big business which funded and high jacked Communism in the past. We need to remember that. Stephen Harper is on the wrong road. He is not a Conservative.

Mayday Madness

A lot of madness going on this May Day across the globe. I would like to clarify that although I have a special place in my heart for Quebec, I am concerned about the nature and scope of the University Tuition protests in Montreal. Everyone would rather spend tax dollars on schools and hospitals instead of on investment fraud, wars and prisons. Yet tuition in Montreal is the lowest in the country. Planning protests at night can’t be blamed on government infiltrators who cause violence to discredit the cause. A political protest shouldn’t look like a Vancouver Cannucks riot. We in Vancouver are ashamed of and furious with the senseless looters in the Stanley cup riot. Likewise, I understand the majority of Quebecers support Charest in the tuition dispute.

Again, I do think the concerns about tuition have merit and should be discussed. I just don’t support the use of vandalism to jump that cause before other important causes in the queue. I don’t see Australia as a Communist country. Yet their university education is paid for. Other countries in Europe, the same thing. I don’t think that is a goal within immediate reach for Canada but I think it is important to acknowledge and is a worthy goal to aspire to. Education is good.

The Greek protests are especially concerning. The Greek financial crisis was the result of investment fraud. What was once public money became private money and then disappeared. We are seeing the same thing happen here with BC Hydro. We are told Madoffs in Greece were springing up like popcorn without a lid. Goldman Sachs was involved in that fraud. That makes former executives from Goldman Sachs serving in the US government very concerning.

The Occupy movement returns. The Occupy movement has many valid concerns. Yet we need to support the democratic process. The Canadian bank bailout has finally made the news. Harpers spin doctors are still denying it happened. That kind of nonsense is very disturbing.

The Harper government was found in contempt for hiding details of the budget from parliament. They wanted to and in fact did, pass a budget without revealing the costs. That was unprecedented. Every step of the way more expenses are appearing and the Harper government is denying and rationalizing every single huge addition to their wish list. The costs of the fighter jet fleet is but one example. The more we dig the more we find out it costs. One military official said they were the wrong type of jets to defend the Canadian arctic. That’s because they aren’t for defending Canada. They are for invasive corporate oil wars.

Now when the bank bailout news breaks, they deny it and say it is a conspiracy theory to fuel leftists in the occupy movement. Well I’m sorry Mr. Harper but real conservatives are concerned about pork barrel politics and fiscal dishonesty. That was the era of Brian Mulroney that we broke off from. That is the era Mr. Harper merged with to get elected.

We wanted an Albertan in Ottawa. Unfortunately, Mr. Harper doesn’t share Albertan values. Alberta is a prosperous province. They don’t have sales tax. That stimulates business. Harper does the opposite by introducing the HST which taxes things that were previously tax exempt. That was unAlbertan.

Since Alberta is prospering, they now pay the premiums for their residents’ medical insurance. That is a wonderful idea. That isn’t socialism. It’s building a better society that we can be proud of. I am really concerned with Stephen Harpers obsession with propaganda and his defiant abandonment of Reform principles of polling the electorate. The robocall scandal is yet another example of this bizarre obsession.

In steps Conrad Black. Why not pour gasoline of the fire of insanity. Conrad Black was recommended to the Order of Canada by none other than Brian Mulroney. That shyster stole $30 million from Canadian taxpayers by committing perjury. He was tied to Iran contra through Trans World Arms and a host of other scandals. That kind of insanity is madness indeed. It’s maddening, but it is also infuriating. Taxation without representation and warrantless surveillance is what wars are fought over.

And then there was Seattle. A friend at work today asked me if I was in Seattle last night. I smiled and said why was their agro. He said they were rioting. It looked as ridiculous as the Stanley Cup riot. I shook my head and said no, I don’t support that. I believe in free speech and lawful assembly but looting and vandalism is not only senseless, it’s counter productive. It destroys the original cause completely.

Likewise, I understand there were some local skirmished in Vancouver last night. Lighting a fire in the middle of Commercial drive was stupid. The drive is a hub for nice restaurants and cafes as well as being artsy. It’s where the Italians go to celebrate or mourn Italy’s standing in the World Cup. No doubt the extreme right would be more than willing to pay provocateurs to cause trouble.

Nevertheless, I do think some trouble makers are there on their own accord. General Strike. People have been calling for a general strike since the Woodwards squat just because. There are a lot of valid concerns and some really important issues on the table. This is too important to let it slip away by a few idiots who want to cause trouble just because they enjoy the mob mentality.

In contrast, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello lead the Occupy march in New York on May Day supporting his guitar army. Now that is inspiring.