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Lenz says James, “assisted by a member of staff, loaded unopened boxes and bottles of alcohol into the clerk’s truck on two occasions.”

James: “I categorically deny taking $10,000 of liquor, to Mr. Barisoff, or otherwise. I took some amount of alcohol to Mr. Barisoff’s house (certainly not $10,000 worth) in the Okanagan. I remember that Mr. Barisoff provided a cheque for the alcohol, payable to the legislative assembly. It should be in the records, which are unavailable to me.”

Speaker Darryl Plecas aired the allegation in his report but admitted that he had been unable to find anyone who had actually witnessed the off-loading of $10,000 worth of booze. So I’d continue to score that one as an uncorroborated rumour.

The controversial watch was acquired during a parliamentary trip to the U.K. in late 2017 and it now resides in a place of shame in the Speaker’s office.

Plecas’s chief of staff Alan Mullen gleefully referred to it in a recent interview as “the corruption watch” and vowed: “You will never see him wear this watch, that’s for sure.”

James confirms that on a visit to the U.K. parliamentary gift shop, “three watches were purchased.” Two were to be stored at the legislature as protocol gifts.

“The third watch was purchased at the specific direction of the Speaker.”

So on that one, it’s his word against that of Plecas.

While those were the most widely reported abuses arising out of the Plecas report, James in his 24-page response and Lenz in 35 pages plus appendices addressed many of the other accusations as well.