Tainted By Association

Helena Guergis has had a rough time of it.  Her rough time began when she fell in love with a charming, well-set-up young man who, like her, had been successful in running for Parliament.  They made a handsome couple, and all might have been well, if her new husband, former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer had the strength of character that she must surely have imbued him with. 

Why else would a successful, beautiful young woman who was intelligent enough to be appointed to Cabinet, have seen value in the man?

We all make mistakes and hers appears to have been a rather walloping one.  His scruples and sense of entitlement expressed through a back-door entry to his former Parliamentary colleagues, hoping thereby to gain financial advantage left much to be desired.  His having used and misused the parliamentary privileges that his wife who did not lose her seat as he had done, marked him out initially as someone with distorted values.

And it was the revelation of her husband's attempts to use the corridors of political power and influence to his personal advantage that caused Ms. Guergis to lose her place at the cabinet table, and from the Conservative caucus when the unsavoury activities of her husband were made public and Prime Minister Stephen Harper was duly informed.

Later, recently-published revelations that he made an effort through channels that should have been closed to him, to acquire secret information relating to Canadian military satellite technology which he might have wished to pass on to Chinese contacts, have further disgraced the pair.  A trip to China in 2010 seemed to set up a situation where Rahim Jaffer made it known he could secure saleable information of value.

The defence testimony of private investigator Derrick Snowdy, who is currently being sued by by Helena Guergis, along with the prime minister and the Conservative Party of Canada, as well as a number of senior official with the party, for defamation is shedding further light on the unfortunate carrying-on of Rahim Jaffer, seeking to enrich himself.

He had written, on his return from China, to the director of parliamentary affairs to the then-industry minister requesting details respecting the government's "long-term space policy" on Radarsat Constellation, an earth-observation satellite in development by MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.  He sought details of the government's plans for the satellite program including its military-use "automatic identification system".

Helene Guergis had used her lawmaker's office to obtain a visa for her husband to enter China, ostensibly with a diplomatic passport as a spouse of a cabinet minister.  That passport was claimed to have been lost when Mr. Jaffer returned to Canada, and was asked for its return following his wife's departure from her cabinet position.

Mr. Snowdy has implicated Rahim Jaffer with a business association with a fraud artist, Nazim Gillani, stating that he became aware of the China angle because Jaffer and Gillani were on the search for investors, and he was involved in an investigation into Mr. Gillani's business ventures.  

"There were firms related to technology, aerospace and computer software and engineering.  There was a small list circulated among people who were being solicited to sponsor Jaffer's diplomatic mission to China."

 In June 2010, CSIS director Richard Fadden had issued a warning about China attempting to influence Canadian politicians.  China's interest in ongoing political and industrial espionage is well enough known.  David Harris, formerly with CSIS, responded in light of the new revelations that further information would be useful:

"In light of the travel to China and the sensitivity of the technology involved, it would be very helpful for Mr. Jaffer to help Canadians to understand the complete background, including contacts made and any technology that might have been sought, as well as the specific individuals and interests that could have prompted his inquiry."

"This would be a matter of extreme interest, it would seem to me, to any self-respecting security service."