May 24, 2005: CTV News: Conservatives say RCMP will get Grewal tapes

Conservatives say RCMP will get Grewal tapes
Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Conservative party will hand over taped conversations laden with high-stakes political intrigue to the RCMP, a source said Tuesday.

The tapes -- a behind-the-scenes peek at political horse-trading -- have already sparked controversy but only a snippet of the recordings have been made public. The Tories plan to transfer the bulk of separate taped discussions between Tory MP Gurmant Grewal and two key Liberals: Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, chief of staff to Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The talks offered a gripping sideshow to the Liberal-Conservative non-confidence showdown in the House of Commons last week.

Murphy is overheard offering advice to Grewal about how he and his wife -- also an MP -- could miss the vote and guarantee a Liberal victory.

Murphy is overheard suggesting he's willing to negotiate something later with Grewal, who made clandestine recordings of the conversations.

But Murphy can also be overheard rejecting an offer to discuss a Senate appointment. He says it was Grewal who came calling with such a request.

The RCMP said it has received a letter from the Bloc Quebecois asking for an investigation, and was reviewing the matter Tuesday. Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked in the letter whether the conversations violated Criminal Code corruption provisions.

The Tory source said the party plans to fully co-operate.

"We're going to hand it to the proper authorities -- I would assume it's the RCMP," the source said. "The leader's office is aware of it."

He said the transfer will be made once Punjabi portions of the tape are translated, but couldn't predict a time frame.

The Tories have been criticized for releasing just eight minutes from taped conversations thought to span more than two hours.

Martin spokesman Scott Reid suggested it was Grewal who asked officials to intervene in a pair of investigations against him.

Immigration Minister Joe Volpe had called on the RCMP and the federal ethics commissioner to examine allegations that Grewal and another Tory offered to aid immigrants in return for money.

On the tape, Murphy is overheard referring to discussions he's had with Volpe.

"Mr. Grewal had suggested that perhaps some action could be taken with respect to the investigations launched by the RCMP and ethics commissioner," said Reid.

"Mr. Murphy appropriately insisted that those were independent processes and that nothing could or would be done.

"Mr. Grewal asked if Mr. Volpe might at least say a gracious word about him in public and Mr. Murphy undertook to raise the matter."

Grewal agreed he wanted Volpe to retract his allegations. But he angrily denied ever asking anyone to interfere with an investigation.

"It's absolutely false," Grewal said in an interview. "I told these guys, 'This minister owes me an apology.' Because the comments he made, he knew they were false.

"And he withdrew them in the House (of Commons). What about the ones he made outside the House? "

Grewal says the rest of the tapes will prove his version of the facts. He says the still-unreleased portions of the tape will include him expressing his wish that the investigations continue.

He says the "cloud" of suspicion over him will only be cleared once he's vindicated.

Conservative officials have in their possession two CDs that hold up to three recorded conversations, said party spokesman Geoff Norquay.

He wouldn't say what the party plans to do with the tapes.

"The first thing we'll do is get them translated then we'll look at those issues," Norquay said.

Conservatives are calling on the PMO to release phone logs of all recent conversations between the office and Tory MPs.

They say the Liberals embarked on a poaching mission in the days leading up to their razor-thin victory in a confidence vote. The Liberals may have saved their government by handing the human resources cabinet portfolio to Belinda Stronach.

Murphy has hired a lawyer.

"(He is) considering taking action against Mr. Grewal should he persist in his false suggestions," Reid said.

May 24, 2005: Bloc & NDP call for RCMP investigation

Sun Media Corporation
Stratford Beacon Herald (Ontario)
May 24, 2005 Tuesday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: GREWAL STICKS TO HIS STORY; BLOC, NDP SAY IT'S TIME TO CALL POLICE OVER MP'S ALLEGATIONS

A Conservative MP maintains the Liberals made him and his wife an offer in exchange for abstaining on the critical budget vote last Thursday. Gurmant Grewal says the offers are contained on about four hours of tapes of conversations he had with Liberal officials, including Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh and Tim Murphy, Prime Minister Paul Martin's chief of staff. Grewal and his wife, Nina, represent B.C. ridings.

The Liberals have denied making an offer to the two Tory MPs, saying Grewal approached them prior to last week's confidence vote, which the Liberals survived by one vote.

Grewal has released only a few minutes of the tapes, which he said he recorded to demonstrate to voters to what extent the Liberals were willing to go to survive the vote.

Grewal says he has four hours of tapes, but neither he nor the Tory party will say why they haven't released more tapes, CTV said. "I wanted Canadians to know how low this government can sink, making these offers to members of Parliament to buy out their votes," Grewal told CTV. He insisted he had no intention of accepting any offer, but strung the Liberals along to gather evidence.

The Criminal Code says it's an offence to offer a reward to an MP for a vote, but it's also against the law to accept a reward. Both the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP have called for an RCMP investigation. "The best way to clear the air would be to have an independent investigation, probably the RCMP, to have a look at this," said NDP spokesman Jamey Heath.

The Bloc Quebecois called for an investigation last week. So far, the Conservatives and the Liberals have not called for investigation.

However, the Liberals want the Tories to release the entire tape.

"I say let's hear the tape, and I take Tim Murphy at his word," Steven MacKinnon, national director of the Liberal party, told CTV's Question Period. "Mr. Grewal approached us ... and no offers were made.

"And we haven't heard the entire tape because the Conservative party, which surreptitiously taped this conversation, is refusing to make it public. And (it's) interesting that they're not asking for an investigation."