Dean Del Mastro found guilty in election spending case

[Oscar]

Dean Del Mastro found guilty in election spending case

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dean-de ... -1.2818920 ]

Former parliamentary secretary to Stephen Harper could lose seat

By Laura Payton, CBC News Posted: Oct 31, 2014 5:00 AM ET| Last Updated: Oct 31, 2014 11:06 AM ET

A judge has found Peterborough, Ont., MP Dean Del Mastro guilty of spending too much in the 2008 federal election and falsifying a document to cover it up.

Del Mastro now faces the prospect of losing his seat in the House of Commons and possibly being sentenced to up to a year in prison and a $2,000 fine.

The prosecution had argued that Del Mastro ordered $21,000 in voter identification, voter contact and get-out-the-vote services from a now-defunct company called Holinshed, but claimed only $1,575 in services because the campaign realized that claiming the full amount would put them over the limit.

Del Mastro, however, said the $21,000 he paid out of his personal chequing account was for a separate set of services that Frank Hall, Holinshed's owner, never delivered.

In her verdict, Justice Lisa Cameron said that in her view, from the timing of the contract and its language, "is plainly a contract for election services."

She also said that she found Del Mastro wasn't credible, "frequently obfuscated" during his testimony and that there were a number of inconsistencies.

Del Mastro sat stonefaced until the judge accepted the testimony of Frank Hall, whom the defence sought to discredit, and discounted Del Mastro's own evidence. Then his face started to show some emotion at the pending verdict.

Del Mastro, who was elected under the Conservative Party banner and once served as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, has been awaiting the verdict since closing arguments in early September. The MP has been in Ottawa regularly and has taken part in the daily question period.

He now sits as an Independent MP.

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[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dean-de ... -1.2818920 ]

[Oscar]

Dean Del Mastro's Sentencing Postponed To January, But Big Questions Remain

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/11/21 ... 99610.html ]

CP | By The Canadian Press Updated: 11/21/2014 1:04 pm EST

EXCERPT:

On Oct. 31, Del Mastro was found guilty of exceeding spending limits, failing to report a personal contribution of $21,000 to his own campaign and knowingly submitting a falsified document.

He faces a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine on each of the three convictions.

Shortly after the judgment, Del Mastro said his lawyers would ask the court to let them re-open the defence in his case to present new evidence. But those efforts now appear to have been abandoned.

No application to re-open the defence has been brought forward, and none is expected, said Crown lawyer Brendan Gluckman, who was in court Friday as Del Mastro's sentencing hearing was postponed to late January.

When pressed for clarification, Del Mastro's new Toronto-based lawyer Leo Adler said while he still needs time to review the case, he has no current plans to re-open the defence.

It remains unclear whether Del Mastro — who continues to maintain his innocence — intends to file an appeal.


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Del Mastro found guilty of election fraud but Pierre Poutine still at large

[ http://canadians.org/media/del-mastro-f ... till-large ]

October 31, 2014

The Council of Canadians is not surprised about today’s conviction of Dean Del Mastro on charges he knowingly overspent on his election campaign in the riding of Peterborough, Ontario and then falsified records to try to cover it up. The Council also points out that serious occurrences of other election fraud have yet to be solved. [ . . . ]