PRENTICE CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR

 “Taxpayers have been systematically defrauded of public funds”

 

CALGARY, February 20, 2004 – Jim Prentice today called for Paul Martin to appoint a Special Independent Prosecutor to investigate criminal behaviour in the sponsorship scandal, saying it was “more than just a political scandal. We are talking about criminal conduct.”

The demand came in a column printed in today’s Calgary Herald. Prentice himself chaired 25 federal public inquiries in the 1990s.

Prentice said a public inquiry is just that – it inquires into a matter of public interest. “A public inquiry into this mess certainly promises to entertain, disgust, astonish and weaken the fragile faith most Canadians have in their federal democracy,” says Prentice. But “as important as the public inquiry will be, it is no solution to criminal conduct.”

Prentice pointed out that the Criminal Code provides for these types of prosecutions, referenced three clauses in the Criminal Code pertaining to fraud and laundering of funds, and asked if these provisions “apply to the Liberal hierarchy or merely to the rest of us.”

Jim Prentice is currently seeking the Conservative Party nomination in the riding of Calgary North Centre, and is a former candidate for the Conservative Party leadership. He is a lawyer and businessman in Calgary.

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 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Jason G. Hatcher – (403) 829-6796