Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Why Haven't the Police Been Called In?

It's extremely rare I agree with anything from NDP MP Pat Martin but I do believe he's right on this one. That, the cops should be called to investigate Rentgate. for fraud.
OTTAWA — The House of Commons should explain why there hasn’t been a police investigation into two MPs who paid back tens of thousands of dollars in tax dollars they improperly received for rental expenses, says New Democrat Pat Martin.
The Chronicle Herald reported Saturday that Toronto-area Liberal MPs Judy Sgro and John Cannis were both ordered to reimburse taxpayers for years of rent expenses they received in violation of the rules — more than $60,000 for Sgro and more than $80,000 for Cannis.
Both MPs had transferred their Ottawa condominiums to the names of family members, which allowed them to claim rental expenses that are higher than the amounts MPs can claim for condo fees. Earlier this summer, an investigation by The Chronicle Herald and Ottawa Citizen uncovered the arrangements through searches of property records.
   Even a fraud investigator agrees that the police should be called in.
Steve Harrar, a fraud investigator with Nexia Friedman, a Montreal financial services firm, said that if MPs have been filing false expense claims, the police should be called in.
"The police should be called at that point, to at least make a report of the situation," he said. "They might want to interrogate the person."
Harrar said the fact that the MPs transferred ownership to a relative suggests they knew what they were doing.
Why the cops haven't been called, I don't know why but they should be.  Is it up the Board of Internal Economy to make the call?  Probably.  There should be an investigation toot sweet.  No doubt if this were CPC MPs, the cops would have been called long ago. 

Another thing why is this not front and center in the 24hr. news cycle?  Again if it were CPC MPs, it would be a non stop, leading story for days if not weeks.  The media again covering Liberal butts?  Yeah I think so.

3 comments:

  1. I would think this falls in the category of theft over $5000 , and really is a police matter.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And it's not just the police. CRA should be checking out the various tax implications. Was the rent to the relatives reported by said relatives? Did Ms Sgro have another residence when she bought and turned over the condo to the kids and - if so - did she declare the disposition (with any attendant capital gains) on her tax return?

    ReplyDelete
  3. And it's not just the police. CRA should be checking out the various tax implications.

    I hadn't thought of CRA. I agree,Frances,they should get involved as well.

    ReplyDelete

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