EDMONTON—Alberta’s election commissioner has launched an investigation into allegations a United Conservative MLA used bribery to gain votes during his nomination contest, even though an internal party investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.

Peter Singh, now the UCP MLA for Calgary-East, is facing accusations of “fraud, forgery, improper inducement and bribery” from four of the nomination candidates who ran against him in the same riding. Back in November 2018, the four — Jamie Lall, Matthew Dirk, Issa Moussa and Andre Chabot, a former city councillor — sent a letter to party leadership detailing their complaints.

They claimed Singh had offered gifts or money for votes and fraudulently registered people for the UCP by forging their consent and identity. Two sworn affidavits signed by residents of the riding and provided as evidence of improprieties outlined how Singh allegedly gave discounts at his business — an auto-repair shop located in Calgary — for votes and offered cash to people for support.

At the time, Singh dismissed the complaints as “sour grapes.” The UCP conducted an internal investigation and found there wasn’t enough evidence to support the allegations.

An investigator with the office of the election commissioner has been in touch with some of the complainants, and a letter, sent on Monday and obtained by Star Edmonton, said he’s now probing some of their allegations.

“I have been assigned a file relating to allegations that a Nomination Contestant (NC), for the 2018 Calgary-East contest, potentially gave out gifts and inducements to voters (and possibly didn’t claim these expenses),” the letter from investigator Dave Jennings states. Jennings previously served with the Calgary Police Service for 25 years before joining the commissioner’s office.

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When contacted by Star Edmonton about the investigation on Thursday, UCP Executive Director Brad Tennant said in an email that Singh maintains his innocence. He also doubled down on the findings of the party’s internal investigation, saying they found no evidence of wrongdoing at the time.

“In the absence of any new information, the party will not revisit the investigation concluded more than 4 months ago,” Tennant said.

The party hasn’t been contacted by the office of the commissioner, Tennant said, but added they’d assist in any way they can if the commissioner wants to speak to them.

Dirk confirmed to Star Edmonton through a text message that he’s met with the investigator regarding Singh’s campaign and Chabot also said he spoke with an investigator on the phone.

“I’m hoping the election commissioner looks into this more deeply because it’s a systemic issue that’s been occurring here for decades and I think it’s time that some of that stuff gets brought to light,” Chabot said during an interview.

However, Chabot said he didn’t have substantial evidence to offer the investigation, only third hand accounts of alleged improprieties, including hearing from people that they’d been signed up for memberships without their consent.

Chabot also alleges the party has not returned his good faith bond of $1000 due to the original letter of complaint being sent to party leadership outlining the four signatories’ concerns. The bond is secured by the party when a nominee enters the race so that nomination contestants maintain good conduct when involved with the party, he said. The bond is typically returned after the candidate has been determined.

Chabot said the party has refused to return his money, suggesting that signing the letter was not considered “good conduct.” But, he says alerting the party to possible impropriety is exactly that.

“It was totally in keeping with good conduct by alerting the party of some fraudulent activity occurring from one of the candidates.”

When Chabot’s allegations were brought to the party’s attention, Tennant said they “will contact Mr. Chabot directly with respect to the compliance bond.”

He didn’t address questions submitted about the reason behind the withholding of the bond.

Singh was also the subject of an RCMP search on one of his businesses in Calgary just before Alberta’s April election. It’s unclear what the Mounties were looking for, but Singh maintained his innocence in a statement posted on Facebook after the incident.

“I stand firm on my innocence. I have fully co-operated with the RCMP,” Singh said.

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On Thursday, the NDP’s deputy leader of the Opposition Sarah Hoffman called for Singh to be removed from the UCP caucus so that he sits as an independent while the investigations are carried out. If he’s found to be innocent, she said she’d be fine with him being welcomed back.

“We know that there was an RCMP investigation, but now there are additional investigations and that’s very troubling,” Hoffman said.

With files from Andrew Jeffrey and The Canadian Press

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