Acquitted Air India suspect drops suit against B.C.

Acquitted Air India suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik has dropped his suit against the B.C. government for malicious prosecution, in which he claimed he was only charged in the terrorist attack to advance the political career of Ujjal Dosanjh.
Malik's lawyer agreed to a consent dismissal order in B.C. Supreme Court Friday.
The B.C. government is continuing its legal bid to reclaim millions loaned to Malik for his successful defence team that won his 2005 acquittal in the Air India bombings.
Malik has now filed a new statement of defence in that case, taking out all references to Dosanjh, the Liberal MP for Vancouver South who was B.C. premier or attorney-general for much of the Air India investigation.
In his now-defunct countersuit, Malik had tried to suggest "the charges were laid at the instance of Mr. Dosanjh for personal and political gain."
He said the attorney-general colluded with Dosanjh and "falsely charged him [Malik] with a series of offences alleging his involvement in a conspiracy to commit murder and place bombs on an aircraft, all with full knowledge that it had no credible evidence of any such involvement."
Dosanjh said Sunday he was "pleased" the allegations were dropped.
"This never should have been done in the first please. I am pleased that they are rectifying the error," he said.
Meanwhile, the B.C. government has still received no repayment of the millions it loaned Malik. Last summer, the Vancouver businessman was ordered to repay the money by Oct. 30 regardless of the countersuit he had already filed for malicious prosecution.
09/11/08 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Nov 2008, Foreign Nov 2008, NACIL Nov 2008, Safety Nov 2008