ba51282c   
   XPost: can.general, can.politics, ott.general   
      
   "Alan Baggett"  wrote in message   
   news:9e046ee6-e687-4868-aca6-5a6b63a436dd@z33g2000vbb.googlegroups.com...   
   If you check some op ed newspaper pages or just surf around the   
   internet Canadians seem to be taking great offense to this.   
      
   If the pressure keeps up we might just get access.   
      
   Remember this about Rahim Jaffer and Helena Georgis?   
   __________________________   
      
   April 20, 2010 - CBC News   
   Jaffer linked to offshore firms by Gillani: PI   
      
   Private investigator Derrick Snowdy says a document listing Panamanian   
   companies that he   
   was told were reserved for Rahim Jaffer prompted him to alert Tory officials   
   about the   
   former MP's alleged business ties.   
   Private investigator Derrick Snowdy says a document listing Panamanian   
   companies that he   
   was told were reserved for Rahim Jaffer prompted him to alert Conservative   
   officials about   
   the former MP's alleged business ties.   
      
   In an exclusive interview with the CBC's Dave Seglins in Nassau, Bahamas,   
   Snowdy alleged   
   Toronto businessman Nazim Gillani was involved in financial crimes.   
      
   He said Gillani also claimed to be orchestrating deals involving Jaffer, whose   
   wife,   
   Helena Guergis, resigned from the Tory cabinet and was expelled from caucus   
   earlier in   
   April.   
      
   Snowdy said Gillani presented him with a list of companies and indicated ones   
   marked with   
   the letters "RJ" - saying they were reserved for Jaffer, a former Tory MP who   
   lost his   
   Edmonton seat in 2008.   
      
   The document lists a number of corporations registered in March 2009 in   
   Panama. The names   
   Sugar Cain Invest & Trade Inc. and Zundilon Associated Corp have the   
   handwritten letters   
   next to them. It is not clear who wrote those initials, or what they mean.   
      
   Snowdy acknowledged he has no evidence Jaffer even knew about the   
   corporations, or for   
   what they were intended.   
      
   Gillani "attempted to sell numerous people offshore corporations," Snowdy   
   alleged.   
      
   Owning, or having interest in offshore companies is perfectly legal. However,   
   Snowdy   
   claims Gillani was involved in money laundering and discussed the companies   
   with him as   
   being vehicles for tax evasion when the investigator posed as a would-be   
   investor in   
   August 2009.   
      
   Gillani has called all of Snowdy's claims false and without corroboration. On   
   Tuesday,   
   Gillani's spokesperson Brian Kilgore refuted Snowdy's claim about the letters,   
   saying the   
   initials on the documents are not "RJ" and do not make any reference to Rahim   
   Jaffer.   
      
   Furthermore, Kilgore told the CBC that while the document in question is the   
   key to this   
   whole affair, he insists Gillani did not start the list of companies. However,   
   Kilgore   
   refused to say whether Gillani had become a controlling shareholder of the   
   companies by   
   August 2009.   
      
   Snowdy said that when asked about the corporations, Gillani "indicated those   
   contacts had   
   been established by Rahim and his wife," Guergis.   
      
   Jaffer was arrested in September 2009 for drunk driving and cocaine possession   
   just hours   
   after he dined with Gillani at a Toronto restaurant. In March, Jaffer pleaded   
   guilty to a   
   lesser charge of careless driving and paid a $500 fine as part of a plea   
   agreement that   
   saw the more serious charges dropped.   
      
   The day after he dined with Jaffer, Gillani sent an email to clients boasting,   
   "Mr. Jaffer   
   has opened up the Prime Minister's Office to us."   
      
   Gillani has since said he was "over-enthusiastic" in his descriptions of his   
   encounters   
   with Jaffer and had exaggerated claims in an email to associates.   
      
   On Tuesday, Jaffer's lawyer declined the CBC's requests for comment.   
      
   Jaffer is set to appear on Wednesday before a parliamentary committee in   
   Ottawa to answer   
   questions about whether he improperly lobbied for access to government green   
   funds.   
      
   PI meets with RCMP   
   Snowdy said he met Monday with Insp. John Kuuper of the RCMP's commercial   
   crime unit in   
   Milton, Ont., to begin detailing his findings that suggest a link between   
   Gillani and   
   Jaffer and Guergis.   
      
   RCMP won't discuss the case, nor confirm whether the meeting took place.   
      
   Snowdy said that in August 2009 he posed as a would-be investor and expressed   
   interest in   
   owning one of the companies purportedly set aside for Jaffer.   
      
   Gillani "offered to put me in touch with Mr. Jaffer to confirm his reservation   
   of a   
   certain corporate name," Snowdy alleged.   
      
   "I said, 'Well, I'd kind of like to have this one, do you think we could   
   switch with one?'   
   and he offered to put me in touch with Mr. Jaffer," Snowdy said.   
      
   Snowdy said he never contacted Jaffer, because he was hired by a spurned   
   investor Dennis   
   Garces to investigate Gillani - not Jaffer.   
      
   CBC News has learned that Snowdy has also been asked to appear before the   
   committee on   
   April 28, the same day as Gillani.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)