Former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer and former cabinet minister Helena Guergis, in a October, 2008, wedding photo. Federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson on Tuesday said she would not investigate allegations against Ms. Guergis that had been passed on to her by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The federal Ethics Commissioner has declined to investigate Helena Guergis, who was removed from cabinet and expelled from the Conservative caucus after allegations against her had been received by the Prime Minister.
Stephen Harper has not explained the nature of the information he received last Thursday that prompted him to turn the matter over to both the RCMP and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson.
But Ms. Dawson said Tuesday that she would not launch an investigation.
"Based on the information the Commissioner has at this time," said a statement from her office, "she is not in a position to proceed with an inquiry under the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons or an examination under the Conflict of Interest Act, but she will continue to monitor the situation."
Ms. Dawson's spokeswoman declined to elaborate further.
Meanwhile, CTV reported Tuesday night that the third party who uncovered the allegations that led Mr. Harper to drop Helena Guergis from the caucus is a private investigator. Police sources say the licensed private eye contacted a Conservative Party lawyer in Toronto, and expressed concern about a potential threat of blackmail arising from allegations about the purchase and use of drugs.
It hasn't been confirmed who may have bought or used the drugs, CTV said, or who the target of blackmail was. When the party lawyer received the information, CTV reported, he immediately alerted the Prime Minister.
There are three main allegations that are under investigation, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife has said, both involving Ms. Guergis and her husband, Rahim Jaffer, a former Conservative MP who lost his Edmonton seat to the NDP in 2008.
The first is that Ms. Guergis allowed her parliamentary office to be used for commercial business unrelated to her work as an MP. Part of that allegation is that Mr. Jaffer was given a parliamentary e-mail account that was used for private business matters.
The second allegation, Mr. Fife said, is that Ms. Guergis and Mr. Jaffer attended "business meetings" together.
"And then there's a third unspecified allegation," Mr. Fife said.
Mr. Harper would not divulge any new information Tuesday: "I received information from an independent source," he said during a news conference in Washington. "And we have put that information to the appropriate authorities. It's up to them to decide how to proceed and I am not going to comment further."
The silence was a matter of some frustration for the opposition.
"It is a little hard to comment on [Ms. Dawson's]decision when we don't even know what she was asked to decide upon," said Liberal MP Mark Holland.
And NDP Leader Jack Layton took a poke at the government's wall of silence. "Now here is the so-called tough on crime Prime Minister who will not even tell Canadians why he has called the cops on one of his own," he said.
Many allegations have surfaced in recent days regarding Mr. Jaffer.
A chauffeur for the former minister of state told The Globe and Mail this week that he spent more time driving Mr. Jaffer around than he did Ms. Guergis. And Mr. Jaffer apparently used a room in her offices to do his own work.
But his business partner at Green Power Generation, the firm for which Mr. Jaffer was working when he is alleged to have told business associates that he could get access to government funds, defended the embattled couple Tuesday.
"Rahim did not take a penny of taxpayer dollars, Rahim did not make a penny from any of his past connections from the Conservatives," said Patrick Glémaud.
Ms. Guergis confirmed in an e-mail to The Canadian Press that Mr. Jaffer had used one of her offices, but strictly to sort out papers after he lost his seat.
And as for the chauffeur, she said: "Drivers were only asked to bring Rahim to and from me and have only done what a normal driver would be required to do to support a minister."
With reports from Daniel Leblanc in Ottawa, CP and CTV