Grewal cleared

The federal "ethics commissioner" (no matter how hard I try, I still can't write that phrase without scare quotes) has cleared Gurmant Grewal of any wrongdoing with regard to immigration visas:

Gurmant Grewal, the embattled Conservative MP facing allegations on several fronts, can breathe easy on one of them today.

Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro is recommending that no sanctions be imposed on Grewal in connection to an immigration controversy, in which he asked constituents to post bonds in exchange for help in obtaining temporary visas.

Grewal admits he asked for signed guarantees of up to $100,000 if visitors failed to leave the country when their visas expired.

But Shapiro says Grewal never pocketed any of the money, and never intended to.

"No profit personal to Mr. Grewal was either intended or realized," Shapiro says in a report tabled this afternoon in the House of Commons.

He adds that Grewal made an error in judgment which placed him in an apparent conflict of interest. But he says the B.C. MP simply made an honest mistake.

Grewal was also cleared with regard to that weird airport incident a few weeks ago. It's starting to look like the man deserves an apology from those of us who called him an embarassment to the party - if he can make up for that tape-editing fiasco.

The real story now is, did Immigration Minister Joe Volpe abuse his authority?

The investigation began when Immigration Minister Joe Volpe asked the Federal Ethics Commissioner and the RCMP in May to look into two Conservative MPs who were allegedly helping immigrants in return for money.

Volpe never divulged how he came across the information.

"I had some information that came to my hands and I handed it off to the same authorities," Volpe said at the time.

Posted by damian at June 22, 2005 07:15 PM | TrackBack