Stephen Harper, enabler of con men and assorted criminals

[marmar]

from the Toronto Star:



Former MP Rahim Jaffer connected to conman
Jaffer boasted to businesses: I can get government money easily

Published On Thu Apr 8 2010


Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter


The booze was flowing on the back patio at Harbour 60 Steakhouse in downtown Toronto.

Nazim Gillani of International Strategic Investments, four business associates, and three busty hookers dined in style last Sept. 10.

Former MP Rahim Jaffer, a self-described peddler of government grants, credits and loans, was in fine form, chatting up prospective clients. Early the next morning, Gillani would greet the day with a colourful email to the night’s guests: “Mr. Jaffer has opened up the Prime Minister’s office to us,” he boasted, unaware at the time of how Jaffer’s night had ended. Gillani is a character. By last September, at least two major police departments and the federal taxman were after him on fraud or tax evasion allegations.

Sixty kilometres north of the dark wood panelling of Harbour 60, a dozen Ontario Provincial Police officers were setting up a RIDE check, a routine stop and sniff assignment that is the bread and butter of the Caledon OPP detachment. Sgt. Mike Garant was the boss. Ten-year veteran Kim Stapleton, a by-the-book officer, was also on duty. Often praised for her work, Stapleton was one of a group of OPP officers selected to travel to the Olympics to work on a security detail in the new year. With other Caledon officers that night, she set up a highly visible RIDE checkpoint just north of the road that snakes past the Pumpkin Patch Childcare Centre. Proudly displayed in their tiny OPP detachment is a MacLean’s article on strict policing with the headline: Caledon: Where you can’t get away with anything. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/791882