Posted on: March 13, 2023, 03:31h.
Final up to date on: March 13, 2023, 03:57h.
A former Canadian lawmaker accused of peddling affect for money to clear playing money owed was acquitted by a choose at Ontario’s Superior Courtroom Friday.
Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal confronted allegations that he helped businessmen acquire entry to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and greased the skids on immigration purposes in return for loans.
Grewal had developed a prodigious playing behavior that noticed him amass appreciable debt at On line casino du Lac-Leamy close to Ottawa. The previous MP for Brampton, Ontario gambled tens of millions of {dollars} on blackjack on the on line casino from 2015 to 2018, based on court docket paperwork.
The on line casino’s customary disclosure to FINTRAC, Canada’s federal monetary intelligence company, prompted an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Grewal left the federal Liberal caucus in 2018 when the investigation and the extent of his playing drawback got here to gentle. He selected to not stand for reelection in 2019.
No Quid Professional Quo
Justice Sylvia Corthorn stated there was no proof that Grewal was responsible of breach of belief costs or that he had used his political workplace to solicit loans. She issued a directed verdict, which meant she dismissed the case on the premise of the prosecution’s case earlier than the protection had even delivered its argument.
“I conclude {that a} affordable jury, correctly instructed, couldn’t render a verdict of responsible,” she stated.
Given the prospect, attorneys for Grewal would have argued his actions weren’t felony. He had merely relied on monetary help from the native Sikh group, of which he’s a member.
Prosecutors cited two Brampton-area businessmen who had every given Grewal a $200K mortgage. These males had accompanied the MP on Trudeau’s 2018 go to to India, however they denied they’d anticipated entry to the prime minister in return.
‘Fragile’ Prosecution
Exterior court docket, Grewal’s lawyer, Nader Hasan, stated a “grave cultural misunderstanding” lay at “the delicate core of this prosecution.”
I hope that the RCMP and the Crown lawyer’s workplace deal with at present as a teachable second and that future investigations into allegations of political corruption will observe the proof with an understanding of the various cultures and values that make Canada a rustic we are able to all be happy with,” he stated.
Hasan added that investigators had failed to easily ask why the 2 businessmen had lent Grewal cash. As a substitute, they jumped to the conclusion that there was “one thing nefarious afoot” when the actual clarification was extra prosaic.
“That’s what I take difficulty with — the tunnel imaginative and prescient,” he stated.
