Changing story on B.C. Rail plea deal

The government now says David Loukidelis, deputy in the Attorney General's Ministry, and Graham Whitmarsh, finance deputy made the decision to cover David Basi and Bob Virk's legal bills:

From Thursday's Vancouver Sun:

"Loukidelis said in the statement that he and deputy finance minister Graham Whitmarsh decided to relieve the two men of responsibility for their legal fees because of their inability to pay...

Loukidelis said the special prosecutor in the case and Attorney-General Mike de Jong did not have "any knowledge of the matter or any involvement in this." He added that he informed de Jong of the decision after it was made, on Oct. 8."

But on Wednesday in the Sun de Jong appears to be saying he made the decision.

"De Jong said he made the recommendation last week not to recoup outstanding legal costs.

"As attorney-general, I am presented with a set of facts and a set of recommendations and in this case have proceeded on the strength of that and people will have to come to their own conclusions," he said.

De Jong also pointed out the plea bargain means that no more public money needs to be spent in the case."


And that's certainly what he seemed to say in Tuesday's Sun story:

"Attorney-General Mike de Jong said earlier that Basi and Virk will not be asked to repay the estimated $6 million the government has paid to cover their legal costs.

De Jong said he agreed to the deal because the two men had contributed what they could to their defence and "there's nothing left to pursue."

It might be that de Jong was misquited or just careless. But given the seriousness of the case and the size of the payout, why wouldn't he say on Tuesday that the two deputy ministers had made the decision and he had no role, if that was the case?