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FBI agent says he helped
Air India witness with immigration problems
Retired FBI agent Ron Parrish faced more tough questioning at the Air India trial in B.C. Supreme Court. Parrish has spent five days in the witness box being grilled about his handling of an informant and an alleged confession. Parrish is a Crown witness giving evidence against one of the accused bombers, Ajaib Singh Bagri. Bagri and Malik Parrish has testified that just months after the 1985 bombings the key witness reported a conversation in which Bagri allegedly admitted his involvement in the bombing plot. Parrish told the court that nearly four years later, the informant provided him with more details about the alleged confession. One of Bagri's lawyers, Michael Code, asked whether Parrish thought it was unusual that he was getting this new information so many years later. Parrish said he did think it was curious. Bagri's lawyers contend the informant is a self-interested liar, an illegal alien in the U.S. who gave the FBI false information in exchange for help with his immigration problems. Code also asked Parrish about the immigration documents he helped the informant obtain. Parrish said he helped the man, who was employed as a painter and in restaurants, to get a permit to work on farms even though he knew the informant had no intention of taking an agricultural job. "There's not much agricultural work in New York City," Parrish testified. The trial is adjourning for a few days while Crown lawyers travel to New York where they'll have a look at FBI documents concerning Air India. Bagri's lawyers have asked the court for access to the FBI material to assist with their defence. (Source CBC News) Witness had memory refresher, court hears VANCOUVER, Mar 24,2004 The RCMP had a "memory-refreshing exercise" for one of its star witnesses a year before Ajaib Singh Bagri was charged with the murder of 331 people in the Air-India disaster, B.C. Supreme Court heard yesterday. Former FBI agent Ron Parrish told the court that he was brought to New York in late September, 1999, to meet with the witness, who was an FBI informant from 1985 to 2000. The witness, who cannot be identified under court order, reported to Mr. Parrish from 1985 to 1989. Mr. Parrish, two other FBI agents and two RCMP officers were at the meeting. Mr. Parrish told the court he went to the meeting to determine whether the witness could independently recall what he had reported to the FBI about Mr. Bagri in the 1980s. He was not aware the witness had been interviewed previously by the RCMP and had memory problems, Mr. Parrish said. On one occasion, Mr. Parrish "tried to prompt the [informant's] memory" by telling the informant what the informant said to Mr. Bagri and what Mr. Bagri replied, according to police notes read in court. Mr. Parrish was questioned about why he provided both sides of the conversations, the informant's comments and Mr. Bagri's responses. Mr. Parrish said he told the informant "just enough" to help him remember the conversation. Defence lawyer Michael Code questioned whether police attempted to coach both Mr. Parrish and the informant on their testimonies at the same time. RCMP notes show that an RCMP officer had said at the New York meeting that prosecutors would like to present the informant's evidence about a conversation with Mr. Bagri in 1985 and then produce Mr. Parrish to "corroborate the information." Mr. Parrish agreed with Mr. Code that it was not proper for police to prepare two witnesses to corroborate each other's statements. But he did not recall anyone making comments about corroboration of evidence during the meeting, he said. "My understanding was that [the informant] was to testify what he knew, and I would testify what I reported," he said. Mr. Parrish, who retired from the FBI in 2002, was called to bolster the prosecution case against Mr. Bagri after the informant testified about incriminating comments made by Mr. Bagri in five conversations from September, 1985, to July, 1989. The informant is the most significant witness in the prosecution case against Mr. Bagri. The informant, who received $300,000 (U.S.) after agreeing to testify, said Mr. Bagri admitted he was part of a group responsible for twin bombings on June 23, 1985, that killed 331 people. The informant also said Mr. Bagri made comments that indicated he was familiar with the plot and knew how the bomb was built. The trial was halted yesterday to allow members of the prosecution team to go to New York to attempt to obtain more information from the FBI about events in the 1980s. The B.C. court cannot compel the FBI to share its files with Canadian authorities and prosecutor Richard Cairns said he did not expect to have access to FBI files. However, he hoped to find out about information in some documents referred to during the trial, he said. The FBI office in New York declined to comment. "It would be inappropriate to discuss any matter while the trial is ongoing," Joseph Valiquette, a FBI special agent for the New York office, said in a telephone interview. (Source Globe and Mails)
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