Honourable members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Nazim Gillani. I was born on March 18, 1967, in London, England; I emigrated to this country in 1974, and I am the CEO of a company called International Strategic Investments, or ISI, for short.
First, thank you for the opportunity to tell my side of the story and answer your questions.
Until April 8, I was a low-profile, medium-sized venture capitalist and financier, and I have been in this business for 23 years.
I would like to state that I am a visible minority. I have seen no sign of prejudice or racism from this committee or anyone else in regard to the matter before this committee.
On Thursday, April 8, 2010, The Toronto Star published an article by Kevin Donovan, full of unsubstantiated distortions and innuendo attacking my character. The article referred to Mr. Jaffer and Mr. Glémaud in ways that distorted our business and personal relationships.
Subsequent to the article published on April 8, other media piled on the bandwagon, spreading more inaccuracies and more innuendo, and on Saturday, April 10, 2010, yet another unsubstantiated article in the The Toronto Star said that I boasted about being a banker to a biker gang. I said no such thing.
I have provided the committee with a timeline to help you follow what happened from my perspective. On Sunday, April 11, 2010, I put out a statement on Canada NewsWire, which read: “I urge all interested media following my story to carefully examine the reporting, sources/attribution, and fact-checking of Mr. Donovan's articles instead of merely copying and accepting them at face value”.
The April 8 article in The Toronto Star unleashed a media storm. The swirling tornado of accusations has turned my life into complete mayhem.
I'm here today to answer questions in regard to my involvement with Rahim Jaffer, Patrick Glémaud, and Green Power Generation, or GPG for short.
We first met in August 2009, and I have met Mr. Jaffer on six other occasions since then. I have provided you in advance with relevant documents, which I believe you already have. The services offered by GPG, listed on both the GPG website and Mr. Jaffer's personal website, were what my company, ISI, was interested in.
GPG formalized the provision of those services in a contract with my company. On page 2 of that contract, which was revised by Mr. Glémaud and signed by him, dated September 21, 2009, it states that the “Consultant”, that being GPG:
warrants and represents that it is in ongoing dialogue with, and has valuable connections to and with, the government of Canada and various departments, ministries, and wholly or partially owned entities thereof, all for the purposes of providing participatory and non-participatory government funding (and other incentives) as well as ongoing support for various prospective private sector projects, ventures and initiatives....
I would like to draw your attention to that September 21, 2009, date. That was after my initial meeting with Mr. Jaffer at La Castile restaurant. It was after my Harbour Sixty Steakhouse dinner, it was after Mr. Jaffer's arrest by the OPP, and it was after the social dinner with Mr. Jaffer and his wife, then Minister Helena Guergis. This date should be compared to testimony last week, when the principals of GPG said there were no synergies with ISI and that they ended their relationship with me.
Now, it has been noted by many that trying to get access to both funding and government services in Ottawa is a labyrinthine task. I was under the impression that Mr. Jaffer and Mr. Glémaud knew what they were doing with regard to government funding access. There was never any underhanded plan or one that had to do with undue influence. Simply, they said they knew how to negotiate the government maze.
However, they never obtained or got any grants or any money for any company referred by ISI. ISI never paid any money or gave any compensation to them or their company.
Further, Mr. Jaffer and I were to travel to China together on April 13, 2010, yet Mr. Jaffer seemed to state to this committee last week that he ended our relationship months ago. This was untrue.
My first meeting with Mr. Jaffer was on August 25, 2009, at La Castile restaurant. On this date, I sent the e-mail that referred to Mr. Jaffer as the Canadian government money access point, based on my understanding of what he and Mr. Glémaud did for a living. At this meeting, Mr. Jaffer did give out his MP business card in front of me. But he qualified that delivery by stating that he didn't have his GPG cards, and he had a binder with these old ones. He stated that he was not an MP, and he actually crossed out “M.P.” on one of the cards and wrote another phone number on it. That's what I saw him do when he met one person at that luncheon.
I would now like to address other allegations against me. Moving ahead to the September 10, 2009 dinner at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, the reality is that four of us met for dinner: me, Mike Mihelic, Rahim Jaffer, and Dr. Chen. Later that evening, we were joined by Ryan Driscoll and Frank Campanile. Later still that evening, we were joined by my then girlfriend and two of her friends. These women, all of whom have respectable jobs, have been devastated that they were referred to as “busty hookers” by Kevin Donovan in The Toronto Star. “Busty hookers” has become the fun phrase to be used in Canadian media, having no regard for what it has done to these three women's lives.
Finally, on the morning of Friday, September 11, 2009, I wrote the now well-known e-mail: “Mr. Jaffer has opened up the Prime Ministers' office to us...”. That sentence was mine and mine alone. It was clearly overstated, and I sincerely apologize for my overenthusiastic statement. There was never, ever any suggestion of direct or indirect access to the Prime Minister's Office by Mr. Jaffer or Mr. Glémaud. Mr. Jaffer was not a recipient of that e-mail.
Next there was a dinner at Sassafraz restaurant in Toronto's Yorkville district, held on Saturday, September 12, 2009, during the Toronto International Film Festival. This was a social event, and it is the only time I ever have met former Minister Guergis.
I have never seen Mr. Jaffer use cocaine, be in possession of cocaine, or even speak of cocaine. I do not use cocaine, nor have I ever been a drug dealer.
Another allegation swirling around me has been that I have compromising photos on my cellphone of former Minister Guergis and Mr. Jaffer “partying” with cocaine and prostitutes. I have no such photos. I took no such photos. Those outrageous and untrue allegations were first published in The Toronto Star, and they seem to have made their way to the Prime Minister himself.
I am not being investigated for tax evasion. Please refer to the letter from Canada Revenue Agency in your packages. Those unfounded allegations were first published in The Toronto Star.
I am not a money launderer. I do not have any ties to organized or unorganized crime. Those unfounded allegations were first published in The Toronto Star and have spread across this country wildly.
I have never been involved with setting up any offshore accounts for Helena Guergis or Rahim Jaffer. I do not own an offshore account myself.
Unfounded and inaccurate information takes on a life of its own. We live in a world where, sometimes, personal responsibility for what is said without proof and then printed is markedly absent. I hope you will see in my short time with you today that I am a very, very strong believer in taking personal responsibility in backing up what I say--my statements.
My business, Mr. Chairman, runs on reputation, personal integrity, and trust. The effect of these allegations on my business has been absolutely devastating. Since April 8, four contracts I have been working on for the past several years have fallen through.
If I may, I would like to briefly return to the e-mail of September 11, 2009. In that e-mail, I also announced to my colleagues that I would be spending four hours meeting my girlfriend's family for the very first time--a big step. “Wish me luck”, I wrote. This was the woman I hoped would become my fiancée. That plan, unfortunately, has been derailed as a result of this fiasco.
I welcome your questions, and I thank you very much for the opportunity to speak.
