MP denies offshore account

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Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press archives Julian Fantino, speaking to the media in March on a different matter, on Thursday denied having any offshore accounts. (CP)

OTTAWA -- Associate Defence Minister Julian Fantino complained to the RCMP on Thursday about documents of unknown origin that purport to show details of offshore banking by Fantino.

"The allegation is completely false," said Chris McCluskey, Fantino's director of communications. "The minister has complained to the RCMP about possible mistaken identity, or identity theft."

On Thursday, Fantino personally denied having offshore accounts after the website ipolitics.ca published a story revealing Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson is looking at the documents.

"No, I don't have any offshore accounts," Fantino said. "I'm not going to get into that stuff. That's mudslinging. No. Unbelievable."

Postmedia News has had the documents for weeks but has not reported on them until now, because reporters were unable to determine their veracity and similar documents have been shown to be forgeries in the past.

The documents purport to show several accounts in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas containing hundreds of thousands of dollars under the name Julian Fantino.

It is legal to have offshore accounts, but they are often used to avoid taxes, and Fantino's public declaration filed with Dawson do not show any such accounts.

The documents were provided to Dawson's office by Richard Lorello, an IT consultant and former Conservative candidate from Vaughan, the suburban Toronto riding Fantino represents.

Lorello received the documents from an anonymous source last spring after he publicly raised questions about financial arrangements in the Vaughan Conservative riding association. Lorello has been communicating via email with the source for months, but does not know the person's name. He said he forwarded them to the ethics commissioner because they raise questions that must be answered.

"I don't think this information should be left to float around out there without it actually being proven," he said in an interview on Thursday.

"If there's rumours out there, I'm sure he wants them to be proven wrong. If it's true, it's disturbing. If it's not true, it's not fair to Mr. Fantino."

Lorello said when he first received the information he was skeptical, but the anonymous source suggested a "credibility test."

At the suggestion of the source, Lorello deposited a small amount of money into a bank account.

"They said they would tell me exactly how much money was in there and they did," Lorello said. "I was shocked. It kind of led me to believe that maybe it should be put before the Canadian authorities."

Lorello forwarded an email to his source from a Postmedia News reporter seeking an interview about the documents, but the source did not reply.

"The person has requested anonymity and I'm respecting that," Lorello said.

An investigator from the ethics commissioner's office interviewed Lorello on April 18, but Dawson has not decided whether to launch an investigation.

"The commissioner is currently gathering further information to conduct an assessment of whether sufficient grounds exist to proceed to an investigation in this matter," said Jocelyne Brisebois, a spokeswoman for Dawson.

Brisebois did not respond to a question about whether the office has the capacity to get information on offshore accounts.

Conservatives say they have no doubt the documents are false, and the idea the former commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police would have an offshore bank account is ridiculous.

An Ontario Superior Court found former Ontario provincial representative Eric Cunningham was victimized by a Toronto private detective agency -- Internal Affairs -- that produced "fraudulent" records that purported to show he had offshore bank accounts.

The Toronto Star has reported Internal Affairs provided Cunningham's ex-wife with fake documents that showed he had $2.3 million in offshore accounts, which were demonstrated to be false during a divorce action.

The detectives -- Cullen Johnson and Elaine White -- eventually were charged with fraud. They denied the allegations. The Star reported on other cases where the agency was accused of charging clients and producing false banking documents.

Lorello said his anonymous source has not asked for money but appears to be a whistleblower.

"I'll be the first to say the documents may not be real, but I'd like that proven conclusively," he said.

-- Postmedia News

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 27, 2012 A18