RCMP documents show that police have considered prosecuting Trudeau, but opposed it for fear of damaging the public interest.
Conservatives have challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the release of an RCMP document stating that police had considered prosecuting the Prime Minister during his 2016 vacation on the Bahamas’ private island of Agakhan.
2019 RCMP document recently obtained by Globe and mail Police said they investigated whether Trudeau could be prosecuted for breach of trust or fraud after the Prime Minister’s family took a Christmas vacation in a private hideout for Islamic leaders in 2016 through a request for access to information. Is.
The police investigation is based on a December 2017 report released by then-Federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, who accepted the invitation due to public affairs between Arger Hahn and the Canadians. , Concluded that it violated four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act. At that time, the government was in progress.
Police argued whether the Prime Minister could be prosecuted for fraud, but the RCMP did not finally prosecute because there was no evidence that Trudeau had committed a breach of trust. According to the RCMP document, it is committed.
Police finally decided that the prosecution would not be in the public interest because the federal regulations applicable to the receipt of gifts were not clear.
On April 25, conservative ethical critic James Bezan also shared a “decision tree” from the RCMP document showing that section 121 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code would lead to a final verdict of fraud against the government. ..
“The only thing the RCMP document prevented from prosecuting Justin Trudeau under Section 121 (1) (c) of the Government’s Fraud Criminal Code was whether he gave himself a jailbreak card.” Bezan wrote On twitter April 25th.
The only thing the RCMP document prevented from prosecuting Justin Trudeau under Section 121 (1) (c) of the Government’s Fraud Criminal Code was whether he gave himself a jailbreak card.
See for yourself ⬇️ #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/GkEzjMOSYI— James Bezan (@jamesbezan) April 25, 2022
Tory provisional leader Candice Bergen also backed up Bezan On social mediaAsks if Tordeau has given himself a “free pass to avoid criminal charges”.
“Canadians deserve to know the truth,” she wrote.
Conservative leader candidate Pierre Poirievre also jabs in Trudeau In a Twitter post April 25th.
“Now I know why Mountains didn’t charge him. They thought it would hurt the public interest to imprison someone as powerful as him,” he wrote.
Carleton Riding MP in Ontario also posted his video challenging Trudeau about a violation of the criminal law section during the 2018 Congressional Questionnaire.
“Island like the island he took a vacation … they cost a lot of money, about $ 200,000 for the time and the number of people the Prime Minister took a vacation as part of this gift,” Poilievre said. Said.
In 2018, I asked Justin Trudeau about the criminal law section he violated.
Now you know why Mountains didn’t charge him. They thought that imprisoning someone as powerful as him would hurt the public interest.
If you think the law should apply to everything, join here: https://t.co/d9I1kyr6U1 pic.twitter.com/BAuSushgCE
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 25, 2022
Jean Charest, Poilievre’s competitor in the Tories leadership race, also blamed the Prime Minister on social media.
“I found out that RCMP was considering prosecuting Justin Tordeau for fraud,” he wrote. Twitter post April 25th.
“The rule of law is not a buffet. Parliamentarians, especially the prime minister, cannot choose when to obey them.”
The Epoch Times asked the Prime Minister’s residence for a reply, but did not immediately reply.
Aga Khan was Justin Trudeau’s father and friend of the family of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, but he also Aga Khan Foundation Canada And that Pluralism Global Center In Ottawa, both are active federal lobbyist organizations that have received hundreds of millions of public funds over the years from both the Conservative and Liberal governments.
Following media coverage, Trudeau called Press conference In April 2018, he apologized for the incident and stated that he considered Aga Khan a friend and did not think that free vacation would be a matter of conflict.
Globe reported that it was unclear whether police could prosecute Trudeau under Article 121 (1) (c) of the Criminal Code. Of the head of their government branch.
Since Trudeau himself was the incumbent Prime Minister and Head of Government, “If Mr Trudeau cannot simply determine if he can agree with himself, the investigation and prosecution under this section may not be in the public interest.” Said RCMP Corporation Michael Kiperchuk in his briefing note.
Police began investigating Trudeau’s 2016 trip to Bahama after former Conservative Peter Kent requested RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucky to investigate the crime in May 2019. Police closed the investigation on September 25, 2019, and stated in internal documents that the criminal accusation was “insufficient evidence to continue,” Globe reported.
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Andrew Chen is a Toronto-based Epoch Times reporter.