CALGARY—A former United Conservative Party leadership candidate at the centre of the ongoing “kamikaze” scandal has been ordered to return $26,500 in allegedly unlawful donations, court documents say.

Alberta’s election commissioner sent Jeff Callaway a letter on March 11 ordering him to return donations from eight people who investigators said donated money that wasn’t their own. The letter also told Callaway to write a sworn statement detailing the “actual contributor(s)” of the money and how Callaway received it.

“I have concluded that a number of the contributions made to the Jeff Callaway leadership campaign were made in a way that doesn’t comply with (Alberta’s election finances law),” reads the letter from commissioner Lorne Gibson, which is copied to the Callaway campaign’s chief financial officer, Lenore Eaton.

The order, obtained by the Star, is attached to an affidavit filed in court as part of an unsuccessful bid by Callaway and five others to pause the commissioner’s investigation until after the April 16 provincial election.

Since January, Alberta’s election commissioner has been investigating the finances of Jeff Callaway’s 2017 UCP leadership bid — and whether the team of current UCP Leader Jason Kenney orchestrated Callaway’s campaign to attack Kenney’s main rival.

Callaway’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday, but Callaway has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

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The commissioner gave Callaway 15 days to comply with the order, meaning he would’ve had to return the money and write the statement by March 26. It’s not clear whether Callaway complied, and the office of the commissioner is bound by legislation that bars it from talking about ongoing investigations.

However, the court file also includes a March 26 response from Ivan Bernardo, the lawyer representing Callaway and his five co-applicants: his wife Nicole and four other donors to his campaign, Robyn Lore, Bonnie Thompson, Darren Thompson, and Jennifer Thompson.

In Bernardo’s response, he says the order is unfair as Callaway was never notified that he was under investigation or given an opportunity to respond to the allegations against him.

Callaway “is not personally in possession of the contributions at issue in the order,” Bernardo wrote, noting that Callaway’s leadership campaign was nearly two years ago.

“Accordingly, it is impossible for him to comply with the order.”

In court Monday, Bernardo said the commissioner hadn’t yet asked Callaway to sit for an interview with its investigators.

Three of the eight people whose donations Callaway was ordered to return have been fined by the election commissioner for giving money to the Callaway campaign that wasn’t theirs — an act that’s illegal in Alberta.

Another two have received letters of reprimand for the same offence. The remaining three people did not actually make the donations recorded in their names, the commissioner’s letter to Callaway said.

Callaway’s campaign has been called a “kamikaze” because it seemed aimed at kneecapping former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, Kenney’s top competitor in the leadership race. During the campaign, Callaway consistently targeted Jean before dropping out a month before the vote and endorsing Kenney.

Last month, documents obtained by The Star and other outlets showed how Kenney’s campaign pulled the strings for major aspects of Callaway’s campaign — attack ads, talking points, speeches and even when Callaway would drop out of the race. Kenney and the UCP have maintained that communications between the two campaigns were normal.

Furthermore, allegations of illegal campaign contributions made to the Callaway bid have plagued the UCP since Maclean’s magazine published a story in mid-March about a $60,000 payment provided to the Callaway team by a corporate entity, which was allegedly redistributed to make it seem as though it came from a number of donors.

Lore, one of Callaway’s co-applicants, was the source of the $60,000 payment, the report alleged. In response, Lore said the payment was a loan.

Portions of the Maclean’s report appear to be backed up by a letter the commissioner sent to Lore, which is also attached to an affidavit filed in court.

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In a March 13 letter summoning Lore for an interview, the commissioner said former Callaway campaign communications staffer Cameron Davies received $60,000 from a corporation called Agropyron Enterprises Ltd., of which Lore is the director and majority shareholder. This allegedly happened on Sept. 11, 2017, during Callaway’s leadership bid.

“All or significant portions of that $60,000.00 was directed to the Jeff Callaway campaign in a manner that has been determined to be in contravention” of Alberta’s election finances law, the letter reads.

Davies has since been fined by the commissioner for obstruction of an investigation.

The commissioner ordered Lore to provide a written statement and come for an interview, but it’s not clear whether either have been done. In court Monday, Bernardo said Lore was out of the country and wouldn’t attend the interview he’d scheduled with the commissioner for Tuesday.

Other court documents reveal the uphill battle the election commissioner’s investigators have faced in their attempts to schedule interviews with key players in the unfolding scandal, Star Calgary previously reported.

Also attached is a March 21 letter the commissioner sent to Eaton, the Callaway campaign CFO, with a list of “investigation findings.”

The letter alleges Eaton paid two Callaway campaign staffers with money from a political action committee (PAC) called Energize Alberta, for which she was also CFO — something that would be illegal, as PACs are not allowed to make political contributions. The contributions weren’t recorded in the Callaway campaign’s financial statement, the letter says.

The letter also alleges Eaton “withheld the truth” about Energize Alberta and her role in the PAC from investigators.

For committing such a “corrupt practice,” Eaton could face up to two years in prison or a $50,000 fine. In the letter, the commissioner gave Eaton until April 19 to respond to the allegations.

“Before making an adverse finding against you and deciding on an appropriate penalty as it relates to these findings, I will consider all the information obtained during the investigation thus far and give you an opportunity to present your views on the matter,” the letter reads.

In one email attached as an exhibit, the commissioner’s office hints at more to come.

“We expect to have more documents for Robyn Lore and Jeff Callaway in the next little while,” wrote one of the commissioner’s investigators in an email sent March 20, after Lore’s interview summons and the order to Callaway.

“We certainly don’t mind going to visit their homes and places of business to give them these letters. However, we are mindful of the attention these matters are drawing for many people.”

The RCMP have also confirmed they’re looking into aspects of the Callaway campaign.

Emma McIntosh is an environment, justice and investigative reporter with Star Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci

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