Lawyer Richard Peck to file Olympic leak report

Lawyer Richard Peck is set to submit a report on his review of policies and procedures relating to the City of Vancouver’s handling of confidential information.

However, Peck isn’t sure whether he will be instructed by city council to proceed with the next stage of his investigation into the media leak regarding the $100-million loan to the builder of the Olympic Village.

“There may or may not be,” Peck told the Straight about the possibility of him identifying who disclosed this sensitive information before the November 15 civic election. “We haven’t reached that position where I would be required to consider that.”

A December 3, 2008, media release by the city stated that the “necessity of the second phase will be decided pending the outcome of the current Vancouver Police Department investigation”.

VPD spokesperson Const. Jana McGuinness told the Straight that the police investigation is ongoing.

“They’re working to see whether there’s evidence to lay charges,” McGuinness said.

The controversy that followed the leak of the $100-million loan helped defeat the then-ruling Non-Partisan Association, which saw only one of its council candidates, Suzanne Anton, get elected.

In a phone interview with the Straight, Anton suggested that the now-dominant Vision Vancouver, which benefited from the Olympic Village fallout, isn’t interested in getting to the bottom of the matter.

“I don’t even know if these guys [Vision] will keep him [Peck],” Anton said. “I’m sure they really don’t want to know the answer.”

Geoff Meggs, who is Vision’s councillor in charge of the Olympic file, gave no indication on whether council will see to it that the person who revealed the confidential information is smoked out.

“No, I haven’t heard that,” Meggs told the Straight when asked if Peck will go into the second phase of his investigation after he submits his report in the middle of this month.

Comments

1 Comments

sleepswithangels

Feb 5, 2009 at 6:44pm

My crystal ball has been hyperactive of late and the mysterious images I'm receiving all point to a vanquished former leader and a loyal minion as the culprit in this sordid, sleasy mess.

Seriously...having your personal PR bitch/mass media outlet try to pin the blame on Raymond Louie hours before the election is like a desperate cry for help/sign of guilt. I'm pretty sure Vision is taking pains not to press the issue because they already know where the chips will fall. Given the kind of power that the NPA backroom boys have in this town, if someone in VV is responsible for the leak we are all going to know about it.