VANCOUVER – New documents obtained under Freedom of Information reveal how Citizens’ Services Minister Amrik Virk misled a Ministry of Finance investigation into executive compensation practices at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), said New Democrat MLA David Eby.

“It speaks volumes about Premier Christy Clark’s judgment that despite this damning evidence about Minister Virk’s character, she still feels he is a suitable cabinet minister,” said Eby, the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey.

“Simply put, these email exchanges and investigation notes prove that Mr. Virk is a dishonest politician, and cast serious doubts on the credibility of Finance Minister Mike de Jong’s investigation into his sleazy dealings,” said Eby. “The documents prove that Virk deliberately misled finance ministry investigator Rob Mingay about his involvement in developing and approving a scheme to circumvent provincial executive compensation guidelines.”

In late December, government was forced to release hundreds of pages of email and interview records detailing Mingay’s investigation of KPU on behalf of Finance Minister Mike de Jong. The documents reveal that Virk refused to tell Mingay the truth about his actions on the KPU board despite repeated questions.

The documents also show that while Mingay became aware that KPU and many other crown agencies were violating executive compensation and reporting guidelines, those findings were not included in his final report to de Jong.

“These records make it clear that Virk simply cannot be trusted to tell the truth to the public, civil servants or to his cabinet colleagues,” said Eby. “How Premier Clark sees fit to keep him around the cabinet table is beyond me. British Columbians deserve better from their government.”

Eby said the New Democrats are forwarding all documents to British Columbia’s Auditor General and requesting a new audit of KPU that would include all newly discovered documents and information.

Click here to see the FOI package: http://bit.ly/1AReiok