OTTAWA - An ex-Mountie says a poisonous work atmosphere and bad management decisions hampered the RCMP's investigation into the 1985 Air India bombing.
Retired Staff Sgt. Robert Solvason told a public inquiry he finally quit the investigative team in frustration over personal conflicts with his superiors and failures to follow critical leads.
Solvason, then a relatively junior corporal, said not enough effort was made to develop key sources who might have shed light on the downing of Air India Flight 182 with the loss of 329 lives.
He also testified that as early as 1988 he urged the Mounties to shift the focus of their investigation toward developing a conspiracy case against Sikh extremists suspected of the attack.
The recommendation never went anywhere at the time, and the idea was only revived years later, after new officers took over the RCMP's Air India task force.
The fresh approach led to the belated prosecution of two suspects, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, but both were acquitted in 2005.
