Toronto businessman Nazim Gillani will tell a Commons committee tomorrow about his "lack of criminal ties" and "his lack of involvement with cocaine," according to his spokesman.
Brian Kilgore told The Globe and Mail today that Mr. Gillani will take nine minutes and 20 seconds for his opening remarks, in which he will address what he believes are some of the "common misconceptions" in his story.
Mr. Gillani is at the centre of lobbying and influence peddling allegations against Rahim Jaffer, the former Conservative MP. The businessman had said in an email that Mr. Jaffer could give him and his clients access to the Prime Minister's Office.
He will appear by himself before the government operations committee tomorrow. His business partner, Mike Mihelic, was also scheduled to testify but was stricken from the witness list yesterday.
Both men are facing fraud charges. Mr. Kilgore says Mr. Mihelic's invitation to the committee was withdrawn as the bail conditions on the fraud case preclude the two men from being in the same room together.
It was after a business dinner with Mr. Gillani last September that Mr. Jaffer was charged with drunk driving and cocaine possession. The charges were later dropped and he was fined for careless driving.
There have also been reports of Mr. Gillani's links to organized crime. Mr. Kilgore says the businessman will address these issues tomorrow before the Commons committee.
As well, Mr. Gillani will talk about the "whole issue of the timeline in regard to the relationship between Nazim's company and Jaffer and Glémaud's company where you will remember Jaffer said there were no synergies and they stopped relations … so, we speak to that."
Mr. Jaffer is a partner with Patrick Glémaud in Green Power Generation Corp. Last week, he appeared before the same Commons committee, saying he had "exploratory meetings" with Mr. Gillani and then decided not to work with him.
But the suggestion is that there was more to their business relationship than Mr. Jaffer has indicated. And Mr. Gillani, Mr. Kilgore says, is a consummate record-keeper; he has piles of emails and records about his business dealings.
Meanwhile, there are new revelations every day about the activities of Mr. Jaffer and his wife, former status of women minister Helena Guergis.
Not only was it revealed that Mr. Jaffer met with a senior member of Environment Minister Jim Prentice's staff in Ms. Guergis's ministerial office, but he is also said to have sent an unsolicited email to the office of Industry Minister Tony Clement.
CTV Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife reported on the email last night, noting that Mr. Clement's office did not pursue it. However, the information has been now sent to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying.
That brings to four the number of Conservative cabinet ministers who have asked the lobbying watchdog to investigate Mr. Jaffer. This after former MP testified last week that he didn't use his connections to enhance his private business interests.
And the Halifax Chronicle-Herald's Stephen Maher has tracked down another strand of the story, involving an "unauthorized" trip to Belize by Mr. Jaffer and Ms. Guergis in 2008. The Toronto Star has reported on allegations by a private investigator that the pair were using offshore holding companies based in the Caribbean country.
Last week, Mr. Jaffer hedged at the committee when asked if he had ever traveled to Belize.
