VANCOUVER, November 30, 2004
CP

Payments of thousands of dollars made by a man accused in the Air India bombing case to the wife of the only man convicted for Canada's worst mass murder do not support an inference of guilt, B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.

Defence lawyer David Crossin, a member of the legal team representing millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik, said the wife of Inderjit Singh Reyat worked for the payments and it was only Crown speculation that the payments were ``hush money to keep quiet.''

The trial last year heard from a Crown witness who testified Malik deposited $50,825 into Satnam Kaur Reyat's bank accounts between January 1991 and September 1996.

The money came through one of his businesses and various organizations he headed.

Malik is charged along with Ajaib Singh Bagri in the June 23, 1985, bombing of Air India Flight 182, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland after a suitcase exploded, killing all 329 crew and passengers.

The pair also face charges in the murder of two baggage handlers killed the same day as they were transporting luggage to another Air India flight at Tokyo's Narita airport.

A third accused, Inderjit Singh Reyat, pleaded guilty in February 2003 for his role in the downing of Flight 182. Reyat, who is serving a five-year sentence, told the court he helped supply bomb components to an unidentified man who actually built the bomb.

Reyat, whose wife Satnam Reyat received the payments from Malik, had already served 10 years for building the Narita bomb.

Crossin, making defence rebuttal arguments on behalf of Malik as the 18-month trial comes to a close, said Malik made no attempt to hide the payments.

``He was in the banking business and knew the accounts could be traced,'' Crossin told Justice Bruce Josephson in B.C. Supreme Court.

Crossin acknowledged Malik also contributed to Reyat's appeal, but he could have done so because he believed Reyat was innocent or that he simply wanted to help his family.

At the trial last year, a prosecutor said Malik confessed his involvement in the bombings to a woman he loved and also told her he was financially supporting Reyat's wife because her husband had done a great service for Sikhs.

But Crossin on Tuesday said Reyat had helped raise funds for the Sikh temple and also played a musical instrument at religious gatherings.

``The payments can't support an inference of guilt,'' said Crossin.

The Crown's theory in the complex case is that B.C.-based Sikh extremists were involved in a terrorist conspiracy to seek revenge against the Indian government after its attack on the Golden Temple in June 1984 killed thousands of pilgrims.

The Crown's theory is that two bomb-laden suitcases were placed on two flights in Vancouver that would connect with the government-run Air India flights.