CALGARY—A director of a political action committee has been fined $17,000 for his role in a scheme that saw thousands of illicit campaign contributions funnelled into Jeff Callaway’s “kamikaze” UCP leadership bid in 2017.

The Office of the Election Commissioner issued three fines on Nov. 1 against Robyn Lore, one of four directors of Energize Alberta Ltd., a political action committee established shortly before Callaway declared his candidacy to run in the United Conservative Party’s first leadership race.

The three fines against Lore include a $4,000 penalty for contributing $60,000 furnished to him by a company called Agropyron with the intent of making a contribution to Callaway; $4,000 for giving $60,000 to Callaway’s communications adviser Cameron Davies with the intent of Davies contributing those funds to Callaway; and a $9,000 fine for colluding with Callaway to circumvent or attempting to circumvent a contribution limit.

The election watchdog also issued a fine of $8,000 against Agropyron Enterprises Ltd., a company run by Lore, for making a prohibited contribution of $60,000 to Callaway. Under Alberta’s Elections Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act, corporations are classified as prohibited entities and are banned from donating to election campaigns.

Eugene Chen, Earl Connors and Jeff Fortin are also listed as directors of Energize Alberta, according to the province’s corporate registry.

Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership campaign team is accused of orchestrating much of Callaway’s bid to attack Kenney’s key rival in the race, former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean. Callaway would later drop out of the race and endorse Kenney. Kenney has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.

Election commissioner Lorne Gibson’s investigation into the Callaway’s leadership bid found Kenney’s team supplied Callaway with attack ads, speeches and talking points, as well as a timeline of when he should drop out of the race to back Kenney.

A report by the election commissioner obtained by the Star in August details how Callaway allegedly kept his 2017 UCP leadership campaign afloat with $60,000 in donations from various donors who had, in turn, received money from Agropyron.

Callaway’s financial disclosure statements filed with Elections Alberta show he received about $94,000 in contributions during his leadership bid.

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