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Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer waits to testify before the Commons government operations committee on April 21, 2010.CHRIS WATTIE/Reuters

Rahim Jaffer promoted a string of projects among at least seven federal agencies after he lost his seat in the 2008 election, receiving the help of Conservative aides to quickly set up meetings with bureaucrats on a solar-panel project and mercury-reduction technology, new documents show.

As Mr. Jaffer's credibility came under attack at a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, the government released documents showing constant contacts last year between federal officials and the former Conservative MP, who was launching a company called Green Power Generation.

The question is whether Mr. Jaffer needed to register as he contacted bureaucrats and ministerial aides, given that the Conservative government enacted legislation in 2006 to force lobbyists to record their clients and some of their communications on a public registry.

The new documents emerged as Toronto businessman Nazim Gillani appeared before the government operations committee of the House and revealed that he signed a contract last year in which Green Power Generation offered its "valuable connections" in Ottawa.

The other documents confirm that Mr. Jaffer had a variety of entrées in the Harper government, as he promoted ventures to a number of ministerial aides and senior bureaucrats. Some of the e-mails were even sent from an account in the name of MP Helena Guergis, Mr. Jaffer's wife and the minister of state for the status of women at the time.

The proposals involving Mr. Jaffer continued going through the federal machinery after he was charged with impaired driving and cocaine possession last September, but his business partner at GPG, Patrick Glémaud, became the main point man. (The charges against Mr. Jaffer were dropped last month, and he pleaded guilty to careless driving and paid a $500 fine.)

One of the revelations in the new documents is that Mr. Jaffer promoted the use of solar panels on federal buildings owned by Public Works last year, and benefited from the help of ministerial aide Sébastien Togneri.

"I leave it to both of you to set up a meeting for him," Mr. Togneri wrote to officials last August after being contacted by Mr. Jaffer.

There are also further details about Mr. Jaffer's representations last year on behalf of RLP Energy Inc., which Environment Minister Jim Prentice revealed last week. The new documents show that Mr. Jaffer told Mr. Prentice's office that he was "working with" the company, which sought $700,000 in funding to test its mercury-reduction technology at a Canadian plant.

The matter was referred to assistant deputy minister Doug Maley at Western Economic Diversification Canada, who asked his officials to "review this on a priority basis as I need to get back to Rahim this Friday."

The project, like all others promoted by Green Power Generation, was rejected by the government.

In his testimony, Mr. Gillani said he had signed a contract with GPG to get Mr. Jaffer's help to navigate through the government maze and obtain funds for various companies. He said he was considering paying a commission of 3 to 10 per cent on federal funds that were attracted to his projects.

To review Mr. Gillani's testimony, click on the grey box below.



<iframe src="https://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=94f551a8b5/height=650/width=600" scrolling="no" height="650px" width="600px" frameBorder ="0" allowTransparency="true" ><a href="https://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcastjmahon/altcast_code=94f551a8b5" >Nazim Gillani tells his side of Jaffer tale</a></iframe>


NDP MP Pat Martin said that given that Green Power Generation sought up to $135-million in federal funds, the potential fees to the company were worth up to $13.5-million.

However, there were unanswered questions at committee whether any such payments would have constituted "contingency fees," which are prohibited under the Lobbying Act.

A week ago, Mr. Jaffer had played down his dealings with Mr. Gillani, who is facing fraud charges on unrelated transactions.

"We realized very quickly after a few meetings with him that our firms were very divergent, that we had no synergies where we could develop a relationship, so that exploration ended at that stage," Mr. Jaffer said.

Mr. Jaffer also insisted that he never used the political connections developed over 11 years as an MP in Ottawa, from 1997 to 2008, to further his business interests. He explained that shortly after he lost his seat in the 2008 election, he assured Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he would not engage in any lobbying activities.

Mr. Martin was unimpressed by Mr. Jaffer's testimony, accusing him at the committee of having "lied his ass off" during the previous week's appearance. Liberal MP Marcel Proulx added that he wants "Mr. Jaffer to return before the committee to answer questions about the contradictions."

Mr. Jaffer did not respond to a request for a comment.



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