Evidence of meeting #17 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was gillani.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Patrick Brown Conservative Barrie, ON
Do you have any information on the proximity of the relationship with Mr. Apps and Mr. Gillani? Do you know if they met often, or was it more infrequent?
4:20 p.m.
As an Individual
I don't know. My only knowledge of Mr. Apps and Mr. Gillani is Mr. Gillani's telling the partnership at HD Retail that he was represented by Mr. Apps in his legal matters, and then confirming that they did have a relationship going further and to know that Mr. Apps had actually—
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Mr. Brown, your time is up; I'm sorry.
Go ahead. Finish that sentence.
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
—that Mr. Apps had actually been involved in that conduct with him.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Thank you very much.
I'm interested in a couple of things that you have said. First of all, you said you met with Arthur Hamilton several times. That is what you said a few moments ago.
Where did you meet Mr. Hamilton? When did these meetings occur?
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
Including the April 9 meeting, I think I met with Arthur a grand total of four times. The meetings were always at his office.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Was anyone else present at those meetings, or was it just you and Mr. Hamilton?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
What did you discuss? Were you continuing to discuss Mr. Jaffer's involvement with Mr. Gillani? Was that the general topic over those four meetings?
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes, I would say the topic would have been Mr. Jaffer and Mr. Gillani.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Did you go into details on exactly what your client's concerns were? You said that in the original meeting you were having a discussion in which he would put up a scenario and you'd agree with the scenario. Did that continue through four meetings?
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
No. Obviously, after the events started to unfold.... It's important to remember that I had some clients who thought I disclosed details of other investigations to the Toronto Star, when in fact the Toronto Star had done its own work.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Sure. You've established that fact.
At the first meeting, you did “Could this happen?”, and you did a yes or no. At the other three, were you presenting evidence to Mr. Hamilton on the relationship between Mr. Jaffer and Mr. Gillani?
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
Mr. Hamilton is a securities lawyer, so I was able to speak with him more specifically about the mechanics of the type of scheme Mr. Gillani was constructing and how he had compensated other silent partners, if you will, which would have included a compensation scheme for Mr. Jaffer.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
So you did get to the compensation scheme for Mr. Jaffer. I read the review in the Toronto Star in which they talked about the promised $5 million. I have seen the emails that talk about how excited they all were about this.
I have a short period of time. As you know, when the Prime Minister stood in the House, he talked about having received information from a reliable source. Are you the reliable source?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
4:25 p.m.
As an Individual
I started to ignore the media reports on this almost as soon as they started. They got as much wrong as they got right.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Do you know of any other source the Prime Minister may have had?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
On this issue, do you know of any other source he may have had who was speaking to Mr. Hamilton about these issues prior to the announcement?
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
You said earlier that Madam Guergis was—I wrote it down—under scrutiny for 18 months for conduct. Could you explain what you meant by that?