Monday, January 15, 2007

Khan just stepped into a big steaming pile of, Wajid?

From Today's National Post:

Khan's riding association delisted Registration revoked for not filing financial returns on time
Elections Canada revoked the legal registration of new Conservative MP Wajid Khan's former Liberal riding association in December because it failed to file financial returns for 2004 and 2005, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.

The returns, now available at Elections Canada, show that Mr. Khan, whose defection to the Conservative party was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper only 10 days ago, lent his old riding association a total of $179,946 through his Toronto car dealership during the two years covered by the late returns.
The riding association transferred $32,000 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election and a further $50,000 to his campaign for the January, 2006, election, the returns show.

Khan's former Liberal riding association has had its registration revoked by Elections Canada as of the end of 2006 for late filing of financial returns for 2004 and 2005. Mr. Khan's auto dealership, Dufferin Mazda, also lent $86,388 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election, his financial returns for that election show.
The returns list Mr. Khan as the guarantor for the campaign loans.

The transactions suggest Mr. Khan was using his car dealership as the primary source of funding for his election campaigns, said NDP MP Pat Martin.
"It's hard to count the serious problems here -- massive loans from a business in excess of donation limits that might not be repaid, enormous spending outside the election period. I wouldn't know where to start," Mr. Martin said.
Dufferin Mazda lent Mr. Khan's riding association $88,377 on Dec. 31, 2004, the same day the association transferred money to Mr. Khan as a candidate, and $91,569 on Dec. 31, 2005. The association had transferred $30,000 to Mr. Khan on Dec. 22 and another $20,000 on election day.
Corporate political contributions are banned under new election financing provisions that took effect with the Federal Accountability Act but were limited to $1,000 under previous political financing rules. Loans to candidates and riding associations are allowed, but must be declared as contributions if not repaid within 18 months.
Mr. Khan's campaign report for the 2004 election stated an expenditure of $75,887 on expenses that were subject to his spending limit, and a further $95,692 in costs that were not included as election expenses because the money was spent either before or after the campaign period.
For the end of 2005, Mr. Khan's riding association reported outstanding financial liabilities of $91,569 and a deficit of $47,327.
It was unknown outside the association whether the riding had paid back the loans by the end of 2006.
Mr. Khan could not be reached yesterday.



Apparently, he's working on a sanitized version of his report to Harper.

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