Crown investigates ex-MP Raj Grewal’s guest list for India functions with Justin Trudeau

Former Liberal MP Raj Grewal sent the names of 100 people he wanted to invite to receptions with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in India in 2018, and no one on his list raised red flags with Trudeau staff before the trip, heard a courtroom in Ottawa. Monday.

Grewal, 36, faces two breach of trust charges, relating to loans he sought from friends, family and other associates to help pay for a gambling habit that racked up millions of dollars in debt.

These charges allege that Grewal, using his political office, lied to obtain loans and that he used his office to obtain loans for personal gain.

Grewal denied any foul play. In 2018, he said he sought treatment for a gambling addiction, got loans only from friends and family, and paid it all back.

The Crown alleges Grewal sought loans from people in exchange for securing them access to travel to India or work on immigration cases.

Grewal was elected in 2015 in a riding of Brampton, Ont., but split from the Liberals in 2018 when the gambling problem came to light. He sat as an independent for almost a year, but did not run again in the 2019 federal election.

He was originally charged by the RCMP in September 2020 with four counts of breach of trust and one count of fraud, but only two of the breach of trust charges remain.

On Monday, as the trial entered its second week, Crown Attorney Tim Wightman presented a former Liberal political staffer with emails and documents outlining the process by which MPs could invite people to events on the trip in India.

Vandana Kattar Miller, who in 2018 was a senior assistant to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, served as a liaison between the Prime Minister’s Office and Liberal MPs who wanted to go on the India tour in February 2018.

The nine-day trip was tense as Indian politicians accused Trudeau of sympathizing with Sikh separatist extremists. He fell completely over a cliff when it emerged that invitations to two receptions with Trudeau had been sent to a man with ties to Sikh extremists, who had been convicted in Canada of attempting to murder of an Indian politician in 1986.

But in court, the Crown is focused on who Grewal put on the guest list.

Kattar Miller said there were two larger receptions – one in Delhi and one in Mumbai – and MPs who wanted to join could submit the names of people they wanted to invite to the receptions.

More than a dozen Liberal MPs joined the trip and their guest list runs to over 12 pages. Grewal’s initial list contained 100 names.

She said there was also a more intimate meeting with Trudeau in Delhi to which MPs could invite up to five people. This event would allow guests to meet Trudeau and have their picture taken with him.

During cross-examination, Grewal’s defense attorney confirmed with Kattar Miller that MPs could submit as many names as they wished for the invitation list and that there were no restrictions on who members of Parliament could invite.

She also confirmed to him that she had done a “high-level” review of the submitted names and that none of them had raised the alarm.

“I don’t remember anything,” she said.

The trial is expected to last until the end of July.

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