RCMP has questions about MP, Trudeau says
ALEX BALLINGALL
OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday there are still “a lot of questions” surrounding Brampton East MP Raj Grewal that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are trying to answer, as opposition MPs demanded to know when he first learned of the troubled politician’s gambling debts.
Responding to questions in the House of Commons, Trudeau said he learned of the Liberal MP’s situation last week.
“We know there are still a lot of questions on which the RCMP is working to get answers,” the prime minister said in French. “We have confidence the RCMP will do the appropriate work to fully understand what happened.”
Grewal announced last Thursday that he will step down as MP for Brampton East, citing undisclosed “personal and medical reasons.” The Prime Minister’s Office admitted the following day that Grewal would resign after informing them he had a gambling problem and had incurred “significant personal debts.”
After Elections Canada confirmed Grewal still hasn’t officially stepped down as of Wednesday, Conservative MP Peter Kent called for his immediate resignation. He pointed to a Globe and Mail report about Grewal’s actions when he sat on the House of Commons finance committee this year. He said the report suggests Grewal was “asking self-serving questions” about money laundering to high ranking officials.
This comes after the Globe and Mail, citing unnamed sources, reported Fintrac, the government agency responsible for tracking money laundering, tipped off the RCMP about Grewal’s gambling activities.
Fintrac declined to answer questions about Grewal from the Star, saying federal law prevents it from “commenting on compliance enforcement actions that may or may not have been undertaken.”
According to a transcript of a finance committee meeting June 20, Grewal asked officials from the Finance Department: “Would there be a scenario in which a financial institution would provide what they think is a suspicious transaction to Fintrac, Fintrac would launch an investigation, but the individual account holder would never know that this was taking place?”