Svend Robinson charged with theft
Prosecution in April jewellery theft comes one week before federal election

Allan Woods
National Post, with files from CanWest News Service

June 22, 2004

CREDIT: The Canadian Press

Svend Robinson, NDP MP for Burnaby-Douglas, wept as he admitted to taking a piece of jewellery during a news conference in April. He has been charged with theft.

Former New Democrat MP Svend Robinson has been charged with theft, more than two months after he publicly admitted stealing a diamond ring for his partner from a British Columbia auction.

The charge against Mr. Robinson, long-time representative for Burnaby-Douglas, was laid yesterday by Leonard Doust, a special prosecutor appointed by the province's Attorney-General.

Mr. Robinson is charged with one count of theft over $5,000 and will appear in a Richmond provincial court on July 8.

The charge comes one week before a June 28 federal election that has Bill Siskay, Mr. Robinson's long-time executive assistant, battling to keep the riding in NDP hands.

"Politics played absolutely no role in this assessment" of whether or not to lay criminal charges, said Geoffrey Gaul, director of legal services for the B.C. Crown's office. "As a result of the police investigation ... an independent special prosecutor reviewed the details and determined there is a substantial likelihood of conviction."

Ten days ago, a lobby group ran an advertisement in The Province that questioned why it was taking so long to charge Mr. Robinson.

"Two months ago MP Svend Robinson was caught stealing," said the advertisement, paid for by the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. "Will he be charged with theft?"

Mr. Gaul said the ad played no role in the decision to charge Mr. Robinson.

"No," he said. "None at all."

Shahraz Kassam, the B.C. jeweller who designed a ring for Mr. Robinson two days before the theft, said last night: 'The point of justice is to deter a crime, and I think Mr. Robinson has paid for the crime in terms of loss of credibility and the loss of his career.''

The colourful and often controversial 25-year politician held a stunning news conference on April 15 in which he said the "severe stress and emotional pain" resulting from a bad fall while hiking several years ago led him to pocket the ring.

"Something just snapped in a moment of utter irrationality," he said in a tearful statement. "While attending a public jewellery sale, I pocketed a piece of jewellery.

"Too afraid to go back, and unable to contact the owners by telephone during the long weekend, I spent a weekend of great anguish determined to return the jewellery at the first opportunity," he said.

Unable to do so the following morning, Mr. Robinson turned himself into police.

Mr. Robinson's stunning admission embroiled the politician in controversy.

While he acknowledged in his tearful statement that he knew there was close surveillance at the April 9 auction in Richmond, it was only confirmed in subsequent days that the politician had in fact been recorded on video stealing a diamond ring.

It also emerged Mr. Robinson had been in the market for a ring for Max Riveron, his partner, two days before the auction.

Mr. Kassam said at the time the politician was "perfectly fine. He was like any person looking for a nice, special gift" when the two sat down to design a ring.

Reached yesterday, Mr. Kassam said: "I think the whole intent of that media thing was to make it seem like [the theft] was a random act. That's why we came forward.''

Mr. Robinson said at the time he had sought professional medical help and is in therapy to deal with the issues.

''For some time now, I have been suffering from severe stress and emotional pain,'' Mr. Robinson said at the time.

The 52-year-old MP, who has represented the riding since 1979, also wrote a letter of apology to Federal Auction Services, the Toronto-based auction house in Richmond from whom he took the ring.

The auction house issued a statement shortly thereafter saying it was satisfied with Mr. Robinson's letter of apology and would not be pressing authorities to lay charges.

The auction house also confirmed that it had provided RCMP with video evidence of the crime 48 hours before Mr. Robinson turned himself in.

The day after Mr. Robinson's statement, Richmond RCMP announced that they had completed their investigation and had forwarded their report to Mr. Doust.

According to Mr. Gaul, Mr. Doust asked for additional information from the police -- which resulted in the delay.

Under the Criminal Code, the maximum sentence for theft over $5,000 is 10 years in prison.

However, a review of past cases suggests that first-time offenders who have made restitution to their victims usually receive a conditional sentence -- a form of house arrest.

(The Vancouver Sun)

© National Post 2004