Ex-Liberal MP charged with fraud, breach of trust

The RCMP say they've charged former Liberal MP Raj Grewal with fraud and breach of trust.

They allege the former MP for Brampton East took millions of dollars in personal loans without telling the federal ethics commissioner, and that he used his political position to solicit those loans.

They also say he used his government-funded constituency office budget for his own benefit.

Grewal was a rookie MP when he left the Liberal caucus in 2018, amid the beginning of the police investigation, for what he said were personal and health reasons.

The Prime Minister's Office said at the time that he was seeking treatment for a gambling addiction, and Grewal later posted a video acknowledging he'd built up millions of dollars in debt but saying he had paid it all back.

He said he began frequenting the Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Que., in early 2016, racking up debt in the millions of dollars playing high-stakes blackjack. He started to borrow money from family and friends to continue to gamble.

"On an average sitting, I would spend between 15 to 30 minutes at a table, and I either won a lot of money, which made me continue to chase wins, or I lost a significant amount of money, which threw me into complete despair," he said.

"I want to make it clear that every single personal loan made to me was by cheque. Everybody has been paid back, and every loan and repayment is transparent and traceable."

His lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

The RCMP said their investigation was launched based on information forwarded in 2017 by the agency that tracks suspicious financial transactions in Canada.

At the time of his resignation from the Liberal caucus, Grewal was also caught up in an ethics probe into whether he may have been in a conflict of interest when he invited a construction executive — who was paying Grewal for legal services at the time — to official events on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to India that year.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus, who had been one of the MPs who complained about that incident, said Friday that in his view, Grewal's troubles began there and just escalated. They fit a pattern within the Liberal government, Angus alleged, of MPs thinking the law doesn't apply to them.

"Today's charges should remind Trudeau that even though he does not like these rules, that doesn't put him or other Liberals above the law."

Grewal didn't run for re-election in 2019.

Grewal is facing four counts of breach of trust and one of fraud. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 6.