A North Vancouver woman whose past political work has resulted in Election Act charges against two of her former bosses said she has no regrets about speaking to authorities, regardless of the personal price she has paid.
"I think I did the right thing," Sepideh Sarrafpour said this week. "I'm hoping
the truth will prevail and justice will prevail."
Work done by Sarrafpour, a former B.C. Liberal caucus employee, on a 2012 byelection campaign for a B.C. Liberal candidate, is at the centre of a scandal that resulted in Election Act charges this week.
On Monday, the justice ministry announced special prosecutor David Butcher
has approved charges against former government staffer Brian Bonney and B.C. Liberal Party employee Mark Robertson following an investigation into last year's "quick wins" ethnic outreach scandal.
According to court documents released by the Criminal Justice Branch, Bonney and Robertson are alleged to have paid Sarrafpour to work on the byelection campaign in Port Moody-Coquitlam without telling candidate David Marsden's financial agent about the payment, as required under the Election Act.
The work by Sarrafpour is alleged to have taken place between Feb. 22 and April 19, 2012.
A numbered company doing business as Mainland Communications, connected to the two men, is also named in the court documents.
The criminal justice branch said the investigation into the case is continuing and a final report is not expected until next year.
But on Wednesday, Sarrafpour praised RCMP investigators and Butcher for their handling of the case, saying she is confident in the outcome.
"I know they went through all the details and checked every single document," she said. "I have no doubt in the result."
Details of what work Sarrafpour did on the byelection campaign have not been made public.
Last year, she was revealed as the woman who was the subject of an alleged hush-money plot in emails related to the provincial ethnic outreach scandal.
Sarrafpour worked as the B.C. Liberal caucus's ethnic community liaison to win support in various ethnic communities, but quit her job in September of 2012.
Her departure left party loyalists scrambling to win her back into the fold.
"Have (former MLA) Harry Bloy meet with her and explain how doing anything would damage the premier and the party. Have him say how we will try to find her work and get her back involved," read an email written by former government communications manager Brian Bonney and later released by the NDP.
"If need be, offer her x dollars per month to do non public work up to election (developing her database of potential supporters.)" Sarrafpour confirmed she was offered a job by former MLA Harry Bloy but didn't take it.
Sarrafpour said after she quit, "I was blacklisted" by her former political allies. "I was not able to get a job."
"The whole situation affected me financially, emotionally socially, publicly," she said. "Basically they ruined my life and reputation."
She said only her belief that she was doing the right thing - and support shown by investigators working on the case - helped her through.
"They really saved my life at a time when everybody was afraid," she said.
Sarrafpour does not face any charges.
After the ethnic outreach scandal went public in March 2013, Premier Christy Clark apologized for the leaked plan to achieve "quick wins" among ethnic voters, then Multiculturalism Minister John Yap resigned from cabinet and several political staffers including Bonney resigned.
Robertson still works for the B.C. Liberals as director of field operations.
In a statement released Monday, the B.C. Liberal Party characterized the actions behind the charges as an error in financial reporting that had since been corrected.
"In November 2013, it was brought to our attention that the party had misreported a $2,240 expenditure related to the 2012 Port Moody Coquitlam byelection. In December 2013, the party filed an amendment to reallocate the expenditure, which Elections B.C. accepted," the statement said, adding, "Amendments are permissible under the act, and are commonly filed by all parties."
But NDP critic Mike Farnworth said the latest developments show the premier knew she had something to hide about the connection between Bonney's taxpayer-funded role in government and partisan Liberal activities.
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