Canadian taxpayers will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to house the two Air India suspects in a nearly abandoned six-storey prison, CBC News has learned.

Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are accused of the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people.

Malik, reputed to be a millionaire businessman from Vancouver, and Bagri, a sawmill worker in Kamloops, are also charged in the deaths of two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita Airport after a suitcase bomb exploded. Air India Flight 301 was the intended target.

Vancouver Pre-Trial Centre
Vancouver Pre-Trial Centre

The men are being held at the Vancouver Pre-Trial Centre, a building that could hold up to 150 prisoners awaiting trial.

Last year, the B.C. government decided to shut down the 20-year-old facility to save money.

The government moved out all of the prisoners to other facilities, except Bagri and Malik.

Randy White
Randy White

Government documents, obtained by CBC News through a freedom of information request, put the prison costs related to the Air India trial at more than $800,000 in the fiscal year starting April 2002: $730,000 in staffing and $100,000 in building costs.

The federal government will pay most of that.

"They could have easily kept the costs down by housing them in facilities that have excess capacity and there are lots of those," said Alliance member of Parliament Randy White.

A spokesperson for the B.C. Corrections Branch declined to comment on the custody arrangements for the Air India suspects.

The prison costs are small compared to the other costs associated with the trial:

  • $7 million for construction of a high-security courtroom
  • $30 million for legal fees
  • $35 million for the ongoing RCMP investigation

The Air India trial, the costliest in Canadian history, started in May and is expected to last at least a year.

Malik cries poor

Malik, meanwhile, says he's not the millionaire he is reported to be, and told the court he needs government funding for his defence.

The province wants to cut that funding, saying Malik can afford to pay for his own lawyers.

The Vancouver businessman says his finances are in ruins. He claims to owe his own children money they lent to one of his companies.

If the government cuts off his funding, Malik's lawyer wants the charges dropped.