By: The Canadian Press   Date: Sunday Sep. 12, 2010 2:51 PM PT

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100912/bc_bcrail_100912/20100912?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Former ministerial aides Bobbi Virk, left, and Dave Basi are seen leaving the B.C. Supreme Court in downtown Vancouver, Monday, May 17, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The corruption trial of three former B.C. government employees resumes Monday after a summer break, just as Premier Gordon Campbell's government strains under further criticism over the harmonized sales tax.

While the premier hasn't stepped foot inside the B.C. Supreme Court trial in Vancouver, defence lawyers fired a series of allegations his way before the trial broke for the summer.

It's expected to be more of the same when their clients return to court facing accusations they traded confidential documents on the sale of BC Rail for cash, meals and NFL tickets.

The $1-billion sale of the Crown corporation in 2003 was controversial because the Liberals had campaigned against doing so in the previous election, a move political commentator Norman Ruff says isn't so different from what's happened with the new tax.

The BC Rail sale grabbed the public's attention after RCMP raided the provincial legislature and were captured on camera carting away dozens of boxes of evidence.

Former ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bobby Virk are charged with fraud and breach of trust, while Basi's cousin Aneal Basi is charged with money laundering.