On July 6, Mr. Angus wrote a letter to Justice Minister Mr. Nicholson stating that the NDP believes the alleged offences facing Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, Ont.) “fall under federal jurisdiction, potentially crossing several federal laws,” and asked that the matter be referred to the director of public prosecution.
In a letter dated on July 30—though Mr. Angus told The Hill Times he didn’t receive the letter until the beginning of last week—Mr. Nicholson responded that “the Attorney General does not refer matters to the Director of Public Prosecutions for investigation, as this would not be consistent with the role of the DPP.”
“The mandate of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is to act as a prosecutor on behalf of the Crown at the federal level, it is not an investigative agency and it does not initiate, direct or supervise investigations of alleged offences,” wrote Mr. Nicholson. “If you believe that you have further information in relation to this matter, you may contact the appropriate investigative agency directly.”
But Mr. Angus said he was “surprised” and dissatisfied with Mr. Nicholson’s response and attitude towards the investigation.
“It says directly in the act that the DPP has the ability to initiate and to advise on how investigations are undertaken, and given the fact that Elections Canada has said they have no ability to offer immunity to witnesses in this potential kick-back scheme, the director of public prosecutions would be the obvious choice,” said Mr. Angus.
Allegations that Mr. Del Mastro’s cousin, David Del Mastro, asked employees and their friends to participate in an alleged fundraising scheme that had donors giving $1,000 each to Mr. Del Mastro’s 2008 re-election campaign and were reimbursed with a $1,050 cheque from Deltro, surfaced in June after a number of donors came forward with their story, and tangible evidence, to The Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News.
This purported scheme allegedly allowed Mr. Del Mastro’s cousin to donate thousands of dollars to his election campaign, exceeding the legal limit under Canada’s election laws. Donors were also able to claim donations on tax returns.
Mr. Del Mastro has stood by his statement that he has done nothing wrong and, after a month-long run around, has agreed to give a statement to Elections Canada investigators. Similarly, Mr. Del Mastro’s cousin has denied he paid out reimbursements and said he only asked people to donate to Mr. Del Mastro’s campaign voluntarily. As Elections Canada does not comment on investigations, it’s not clear when Mr. Del Mastro will meet with investigators, or if such a meeting has already taken place.
Toronto lawyer Allan Kaufman, who represents a group of donors allegedly involved in the scheme, wrote to Elections Canada in June requesting that donors be given immunity—as, if the allegations are true, they too broke the law—in exchange for testimony offering details of the alleged reimbursement scheme. Elections Canada replied in July that while they were willing to hear witness testimony on the allegations, they were not able to offer immunity.
At the beginning of this month it was reported that Elections Canada investigator Ronald Lamothe—who has also been involved in the agency’s investigation into the robocall scandal—had started his investigation and was telephoning donors, but without guaranteed protection from prosecution, Mr. Kaufman said “my people are not talking to them. … They’re like a clam.”
Mr. Angus said he’s concerned about the situation. “I’m concerned because I don’t think Elections Canada has all the tools necessary to fully investigate this. This is not about us deciding as opposition on the guilt or innocence of Mr. Del Mastro of his cousin or any of the players, but it’s our obligation—Mr. Nicholson, mine and all of ours—to ensure that justice is seen to be done, because these are allegations which undermine credibility of the electoral system and elected officials,” he said.
In the Federal Accountability Act, introduced in 2006, it states that: “The Director of Public Prosecutions is a new position having authority over all federal prosecutions, which include prosecutions, prospective prosecutions, related proceedings and appeals under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General of Canada as well as those under the Canada Elections Act.”
On Aug. 8, Mr. Angus sent a reply to Mr. Nicholson reaffirming his position that the Federal Accountability Act, which lays out the duties of the DPP, and the authority of the Attorney General, provide for Mr. Nicholson to refer to matter “to the DPP, police or other authority.”
“Elections Canada is hindered in their investigation. One would think that this type of politically-charged suspected wrongdoing is just the sort of issue where the DPP would be encouraged to step in and ‘advise’ the appropriate law enforcement agencies,” wrote Mr. Angus, stating later, “the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was created specifically to hold politicians to account.”
Liberal MP Scott Andrews (Avalon, Nfld.) said he is still asking that Mr. Del Mastro appear before the House Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee to present his side of the story, and said he is making the suggestion because Mr. Del Mastro has publicly stated there was no process by which he could set the record straight.
Mr. Del Mastro is currently under another, separate investigation by Elections Canada into allegations that he breached the legal spending limit in his 2008 campaign and attempted to conceal the expense.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: LAURA RYCKEWAERT
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