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OTTAWA — Conservative leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier is calling rival Kevin O’Leary a “loser” and “a bad candidate” as the party looks into claims of fraud and vote-rigging.

O’Leary issued a statement Thursday accusing an unidentified campaign of trying to buy its way to the top by using untraceable prepaid credit cards to sign up party members, which he said runs afoul of party rules.

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“Beyond the legalities of this, it is completely immoral, and extremely unfair to the tens of thousands of real party members that will have the impact of their votes weakened,” O’Leary said in a statement.

The alleged scheme involves people on the Ontario PC party membership list being signed up as members of the federal Conservative party, possibly without their knowledge.

The party says it is investigating the allegations.

Two sources not connected to O’Leary have told The Canadian Press it appeared Bernier’s campaign is the one under scrutiny.