OTTAWA—The federal ethics commissioner may investigate whether a Brampton East MP broke parliamentary rules when he invited a construction executive whose company pays him for legal work, to hobnob with high-ranking officials during the prime minister’s trip to India.

According to a letter obtained Tuesday by the Star, Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said the case, which involves Brampton East Liberal MP Raj Grewal and Zgemi Inc. President Yusuf Yenilmez, “meets the criteria” for him to consider an investigation.

The letter was dated April 5 and addressed to Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie, who wrote to Dion March 29 to allege that Grewal may have breached the Conflict of Interest Code for MPs when he secured an invitation for Yenilmez to an event in New Delhi with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as a host of cabinet members and other officials, during his trip to India in February.

NDP MP Charlie Angus — who also wrote to Dion in late March to allege Grewal broke the rules — said Tuesday that he also received a response from the commissioner confirming he will consider an investigation.

“(Grewal’s) business associate getting that kind of access is highly, highly questionable,” Angus said. “This is a government that said they were going to have a much higher code on the appearance of conflict of interest… That seems to have gone out the window.”

Dion’s letter — which is labelled “confidential” — says that Grewal has until May 4 to respond to the allegations. After that, Dion will decide whether to start an investigation within 15 business days.

Grewal’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Star Tuesday afternoon.

The first-term MP declared to the ethics commissioner last year that he receives “employment income” from Yenilmez’s company, as well as the Brampton law firm, Gahir and Associates.

In the weeks after the prime minister’s trip to India, photos appeared on Yenilmez’s Facebook page that showed him posing at events in the country with Grewal, Trudeau, Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains, Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, and other high-ranking officials.

When approached with questions from the Star last month, Grewal initially said he didn’t facilitate Yenilmez’s attendance to those events, but a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office later confirmed that Grewal secured Yenilmez’s invitation to a reception in New Delhi with Canada’s High Commissioner to India.

In a followup statement, Grewal said he invited a “diverse group of more than 30 supporters and stakeholders” to participate in events around the India trip. Because Yenilmez was registered to travel during the trip with the Canada-India Forum, “he had access to the receptions with or without my invitation,” Grewal said.

MPs who are not parliamentary secretaries or cabinet ministers can work and get paid for jobs outside of their duties as elected members of the House, so long as they don’t breach the conflict of interest code, according to Dion’s office. Angus and Kusie alleged in their letters to Dion that Grewal broke two sections of the code by inviting Yenilmez to an official event in India. The sections they point to prohibit MPs from furthering their own private interests “or to improperly further another person’s” interests through their positions as elected officials.

Yenilmez, a routine Liberal donor whose company employs 400 people, told the Star last month that Grewal provides legal services on a contract basis and that their relationship was cleared by the ethics commissioner.

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With files from Bruce Campion-Smith

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