VANCOUVER, November 10, 2004
The Vancouver Sun
Accused Air India bomber Ripudaman Singh Malik funnelled more than
$100,000 to the wife of convicted bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat to
cover up his own role in the terrorist plot, Crown prosecutor Joe Bellows
argued Tuesday.
Bellows said the large amounts of money Malik paid to the Reyat family
over several years is "circumstantial evidence of his culpability"
in the plot.
Reyat was convicted in June 1991 of manslaughter for building a bomb
that exploded at Tokyo's Narita Airport less than an hour before Air
India Flight 182 blew up off the coast of Ireland. The RCMP has always
considered the two bombings part of the same plot targeting Air India.
Bellows told Justice Ian Bruce Josephson that Malik and other conspirators
would have worried that Reyat might implicate them after his conviction
in the Narita bombing if he felt resentful that he was the only one
caught.
That's one of the reasons Malik began substantial payments to Reyat's
wife Satnam Kaur, Bellows suggested.
"There can be no doubt that Malik was convinced that unless he
ensured the safety and comfort of Reyat's family, there would always
be the chance that Reyat would give him up," Bellows said.
The first cheque from Malik to Satnam was for $10,000 and was deposited
just nine days after her husband's conviction.
Cash and cheques were paid to the Reyats under the table because they
were involved in a scam to collect welfare while receiving the secret
payments from Malik, Bellows said.
Some of the money came from Malik's personal bank account, some came
from two charities he controlled and some came from his company, Papillon
Eastern Imports, Bellows said.
He said Malik used his influence at the Khalsa Credit Union he headed
to get the cheques deposited into Satnam's account, even when they were
often not made out to the right name or properly endorsed. Some cheques
had no name filled in, but were still deposited.
Not only was Malik president and founder of the controversial credit
union, but he had "his man on the inside," a manager named
Aniljit Singh Uppal, who made sure sure the under-the-table payments
went into the right account even when they violated credit union policy,
Bellows said.
Uppal, who was later forced out of the credit union, has been assisting
the Malik defence team.
"Malik manipulated normal banking practices to hide the source
of large sums of money flowing to Mrs. Reyat," Bellows said.
About $51,000 of the Reyat family payments could be directly traced
to Malik, Papillon, the Satnam Trust and the government-funded Satnam
Education Society of B.C., Bellows said.
Another $65,000 appeared to have been paid to Satnam through a front
account in the name of Piara Singh Panesar, a cousin of Inderjit Reyat
who was once charged with attempted murder in a temple stabbing.
Bellows said Satnam had signing authority on the account and appeared
to be the main person taking money from it.
The Panesar account was opened the same day as Satnam signed the card
for her own Khalsa Credit Union account, which was just a few days after
her husband's June 1991 manslaughter conviction.
Records for $47,000 deposited into the Panesar account were destroyed
before the police searched the credit union, Bellows said.
Malik and Bagri face eight counts including conspiracy and first-degree
murder in two June 1985 bombings that targeted Air India and killed
331.