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Leonard Krog, the official Opposition critic for the Attorney-General, has called on Premier Gordon Campbell to order an independent, public investigation into the apparent loss of cabinet and executive staff e-mails concerning the sale of BC Rail.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia was informed by a government lawyer last week that four years of e-mail correspondence, sought by defence attorneys in a political corruption case, could not be recovered because the government's electronic backup tapes had been kept only 13 months.

"The destruction of government e-mails that have been requested by the defence in this case raises serious questions about your government's compliance with British Columbia law and policy, particularly as it applies to e-mails of cabinet ministers, executive appointees and high-ranking political staff," Mr. Krog writes in his letter to the Premier.

He says the destruction of government records is covered by the provincial Document Disposal Act, and the Corporate Information Management Branch, which outline how records are to be retained or discarded.

Under the government's regulations, e-mails are regarded as being part of the official record. They can only be destroyed by individuals if they have been labelled "transitory," a category which means they are routine and trivial in nature. An e-mail confirming a luncheon date would be an example of a transitory e-mail, according to guidelines.

But Mr. Krog said documents that are "required for ongoing legal, fiscal, audit, administrative or operational purposes" cannot be classified as transitory, and must be retained for a minimum of 10 years.

In addition, he said, any government records that relate to legal proceedings or that have evidentiary value must be retained.

During a police investigation in December, 2003, the legislature offices of ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk were searched, and files were seized. Several months later, the two men and a third government employee, communications officer Aneal Basi, were charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering for allegedly trading confidential government information concerning the $1-billion sale of BC Rail.

Mr. Krog said it was clear from the date of the police raid that government records related to BC Rail might be required as evidence.

"In that light, the failure of your government to produce the records points to a serious breach of the law and policies regarding document retention," Mr. Krog states.

Addressing Mr. Campbell, he writes: "I call on you to immediately launch an independent and public investigation to determine the reasons for the disappearance of the e-mails in question, to determine whether any person or persons made a decision to deliberately destroy these records and finally to determine whether all avenues have been exhausted to locate or recover them."

Mr. Campbell has repeatedly refused to comment on the BC Rail trial. Last week, however, he briefly broke his silence, telling reporters: "The records that should be kept under the law, have been kept."

George Copley, the lawyer for the Executive Council of the B.C. government, is expected to address court in the next few weeks and explain what steps were taken to try to recover the missing e-mails.

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