Let’s see what our intrepid Canadian “investigative” reporting industry has been up to in the latest Gurmond Grewal “undeclared cheque cashing scandal”…
In the mainstream media equivalent of McDonald’s buying and reselling the Whopper[tm], the Globe and Mail “reports” that they are viewers of the CBC .
The RCMP is investigating complaints that contributors to Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal’s 2004 campaign have not received tax receipts for their money, CBC News reported last night.
“This is really strange and unusual,” said Barj Dhahan, a campaign contributor. “We have one of our national parties and one of its candidates is accepting political contributions and there’s no receipts. So it raises a lot of questions.”
The Vancouver businessman told the CBC he gave Mr. Grewal a cheque for $600 for his 2004 re-election campaign. Mr. Dhahan said he never received a tax receipt.
Camille Bains is just as diligent in repeating the story for Macleans;
Barj Dhahan, a Vancouver businessman, said the Mounties planned to take a statement from him on Wednesday. Dhahan said he contributed $600 toward Grewal’s campaign on Dec. 27, 2003, and has had about a dozen phone conversations since February with staff at the MP’s constituency office about a receipt.
[…]
According to Elections Canada, a campaign contribution can be made directly to a candidate but receipts must be issued and funds must be deposited into the campaign or riding association account.
Dhahan, along with his associate Sarup Mann, met Grewal in his office on Dec. 27, 2003, the day both men made $600 contributions toward the MP’s re-election.
(And several months before Elections Canada revised their rules to require the issuance of tax receipts, but why dwell on minutiae?)
To their credit, CTV quotes Dhahan’s “associate” Sarup Mann;
“I have nothing against Gurmant, he’s a friend of mine, said Sarup Mann, who says he wrote Grewal a cheque for $600 and never got a receipt.”
… and finds a not-so-irrelevant tidbit of information that neither CBC, the reselling Globe or Macleans bothered looking into.
But, he is also on the executive of the Liberal Party’s Vancouver South riding association, Dosanjh’s riding.
How many “investigations” has the media broken about Grewal so far – only to see him cleared? Is anyone else losing count? And why are mentions of criminal investigations into Tim Murphy and Ujjal Dosanjh over the tape affair being omitted from recent reports?
One wonders if the RCMP would be knocking on the door of Inky Marks today, had he obtained proof of the offers allegedly made to him to cross the floor that included taped participation by the PMO and Health Minister.
Update – Brent Colbert wonders if someone has been playing the “long con”. Where the Cash-Filled-Envelope Party is involved – anything is possible.