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| Subject: Judy Sgro update - free pizza and strippers |
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By TERRY WEBER
Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Updated at 4:02 PM EDT
Globe and Mail Update
Former Immigration Minister Judy Sgro said Tuesday a man who alleged she promised to swap asylum for free pizza and campaign support has retracted the charges and apologized.
?Reputations should not be tarnished by unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo solely for partisan politics,? Ms. Sgro said, after reading the man´s letter in the House of Commons.
Harjit Singh, a failed refugee claimant from India who operated a Brampton, Ont. pizza parlour, had alleged that Ms. Sgro promised help him stay in Canada in exchange for free pizza and help on her campaign.
She denied the assertion and later sued him, only to be hit with a countersuit. Ms. Sgro resigned her posting in the wake of the allegations, saying she intended to clear her name.
In the letter made public on Tuesday, Mr. Singh ? who was deported to India in February after a 17-year fight to remain in Canada ? said: ?I now admit that I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro. Further, at no time, did Judy Sgro request any campaign assistance from me nor did she help me with my immigration problems. I am providing this apology and retraction voluntarily and of my own free will.?
Ms. Sgro said the case should serve as a reminder against a rush to judgment in such cases.
?All of us as honourable members in this House should use caution to ensure that we do not abuse the immunity that this House provides,? Ms. Sgro said, thanking Canadians, especially Prime Minister Paul Martin for their support while she dealt with the matter.
Ms. Sgro was forced to resign in January, the day after Mr. Singh went public with his claims.
By that time, however, she had already faced several punishing months in the wake of a previous charge that her department had issued a temporary-residence permit to 25-year-old Alina Balaican, a stripper who worked on Ms. Sgro´s election campaign.
Ms. Sgro also said Tuesday federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro concluded in that case that she had never met the woman and wasn´t aware she had volunteered on her campaign.
?He [Mr. Shapiro] stated that my decision to grant the minister´s permit was based on reasons entirely consistent with the criteria that I had been using as a minister in determining all other requests seeking my intervention,? Ms. Sgro said.
However, a letter written by Mr. Shapiro also suggested that Ms. Sgro was put in a conflict of interest by staff who did not fully inform her about the young woman´s volunteer status on her campaign.
?It appears that you have acted appropriately but that your staff did not,? Mr. Shapiro wrote.
[10-05-2005,20:35]
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