Ottawa police are refusing to talk about a case involving serious allegations of election smearing, leaving unanswered questions about the integrity of both a Barrhaven ward municipal candidate and the local community newspaper.

The Barrhaven Independent printed a story on Sept. 28 about a woman who allegedly complained to police about candidate Hadi Wess.

According to the newspaper's story, the woman called police after Wess allegedly intimidated her on her doorstep and — when she tried to close her door — tried to get into her home.

The story did not identify the woman, but said details of her complaint were confirmed by the Ottawa Police Service's media relations unit.

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Wess, however, says the story is completely fabricated and is "nothing but a smear campaign to spread propaganda and misinform residents."

In a statement, Wess said police told him there was no such police report and that there was no contact between the media relations department and the newspaper in connection to the story.

BREAKING: Police conforms no report was filed against me or my campaign. <a href="https://twitter.com/barrhavenindy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@barrhavenindy</a> is just another bias media source. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MyBarrhaven?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MyBarrhaven</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OttVote?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OttVote</a><a href="https://twitter.com/jchianello?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jchianello</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JonathanWilling?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JonathanWilling</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/davidreevely?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@davidreevely</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraOsmanCBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LauraOsmanCBC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SusanSherring?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SusanSherring</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CFRAOttawa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CFRAOttawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ctvottawa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ctvottawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCOttawa</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/OttawaCitizen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OttawaCitizen</a> <a href="https://t.co/J0d7fFIAYP">pic.twitter.com/J0d7fFIAYP</a> —@HadiWess

Police won't say whose story is true, however.

The force will only say it "does not confirm or deny ongoing investigations about named persons or organizations, unless a charge is laid."

There are some incorrect details in the Barrhaven Independent story, however, which did not include a byline.

For example, the newspaper reported that the woman complained to police on Sept. 15, "several days after the alleged incident," adding that she couldn't contact police earlier because of the power outage caused by last month's tornadoes.

The tornado that caused the multi-day power outage in Ottawa struck the city on Sept. 21 — six days later.

Newspaper 'offended'

The Barrhaven Independent defended itself in a statement on social media.

"As the newspaper and multi-platform media outlet in our community, our objective is to restore and protect integrity," wrote editor Jeff Morris.

"We are offended that ours has been attacked or even questioned."

Morris offered CBC the phone number of the woman who made the complaint and a police file number to independently verify the story.

However police have not offered any information about the file associated with that number.