Snowdy’s testimony was thrilling and theatrical but left you wondering if he wasn’t grandstanding

Derrick Snowdy, bankrupt PI didn't finger Guergis in scandal

Derrick Snowdy the private investigator at the centre of the Jaffer/Guergis affair said he didn’t implicate Guergis with the Prime Minister’s office. Other than that, the admitted Conservative Party member dragged everyone else he could through the mud.

The Conservatives used the occasion to drive home the point that the PM’s office didn’t help anyone get money and maybe the Liberals are crooks. The Liberals tried to show how connected the Tories were in the mess. The Bloq and NDP seemed miffed they weren’t invited to the scandal.

No busty call-girls appeared with Snowdy but he did invoke their spirit as companions of the “fraudster” Gillani.

It was riveting TV for two hours but it made me wonder – how much of what he said was true? Most of it was innuendo, hyperbole, and grandstanding by the bankrupt PI who showed up in a red Ferrari on Parliament Hill. He is a movie star apparently.

Let’s see if I can get what he said correct.

Nazim Gillani, likes busty hookers, cocaine and stock fraud allegedly

Snowdy is a PI who works for a client who needed money for his business. Nazim Gillani had contracted with the client to get $5 million through his business relationship with former Tory MP Rahim Jaffir. Gillani claimed Jaffer had a “back door” to the Prime Minister. With more than $47 billion in stimulus money floating from Ottawa, lots of connected Conservatives probably made the same boast. Sometimes there were right.

The client was worried Gillani was going to defraud him so in comes Snowdy to investigate. Snowdy claimed Gillani was running a stock scam called “pump and dump” where investors are tricked into buying stocks for an IPO and then defrauded when the promoters sell their stock and short the issue. More on that tomorrow.

Snowdy presented several documents that illustrated the Gillani pump and dump scheme along with a “business plan” and list of shareholders.

Aldred Apps, Liberal Lawyer and not the getaway driver

This is where it gets interesting. Snowdy said that Aldred Apps, a lawyer and President of the Liberal Party of Canada, was Gillani’s lawyer. He called Apps the “getaway driver” in Gillani’s fraudulent scheme. Boy it looks like the Liberals are the crooks right?

Wrong, Gillani may have tried to implicate him but Apps issued a statement during the meeting denying the client relationship. Apps said in his statement that Gillani approached him to act for his company and paid the standard opening retainer. When Apps reviewed the file, he decided Gillani was probably committing fraud. Apps returned the retainer and declined he client. So much for the 5 year relationship as a “getaway driver” and accomplice in fraud.

Much of what Snowdy said struck me as incredible although based on some fact. Snowdy was obviously grandstanding for national TV. He would accuse people of the wildest things. When an MP asked him to speculate, he then replied that he doesn’t make wild guesses.

Helena Guergis innocent?

On the central question of Helena Guergis, he said he had no knowledge that she had used any influence or received any money. Snowdy claimed Prime Minister Harper’s assistant Guy Giorno lied in his letter to the Ethics Commissioner. Snowdy said none of the allegations in Giorno’s letter came from him. Who then put the finger on Guergis and for what crime?

Helena Guergis, she may be mouthy but Snowdy didn't snitch on her

Then on a turn around question he said the it was likely a trip Guergis took to Belize was to setup an offshore bank that could receive dirty money from Gillani. How did he know that? It seemed likely to him.

Snowdy did admit to being the likely only source of information that Prime Minister Harper used in dismissing Guergis from Cabinet. Snowdy took his sordid allegations to a Conservative lawyer named Arthur Hamilton. Hamilton does have a front door to the Prime Minister and reported Snowdy’s claims. The connection was apparently Snowdy-Hamilton-PM’s office-Guy Giorno-Ethics Commissioner-end of the line.

If Snowdy is telling the truth that he had no evidence on Guergis, why did Harper dump her? It would make a PM nervous that one of his cabinet was playing footsie with a man like Gillani. Remember Gillani has “busty hookers” among his friends.

Personally, I think Harper fired her because he is a sexist. He didn’t fire Maxine Bernier right away. Maxime was sleeping with a girl friend of the Hells Angels. Bernier even left secret cabinet documents with her. One standard for the boys, another for the girls.

Gillani and Jaffer

It is apparent that Gillani might be your typical Toronto stock manipulator and maybe a fraud artist. Jaffer may have been bragging about being able to get money from the Stimulus Package. We have yet to learn if Jaffer got further than bragging.

Most of what Snowdy said about cocaine, prostitutes, threats with guns, compromising photographs were hearsay allegations. At several points he reminded me of Danny DeVito in LA Confidential. “Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.”

CBC blogged the proceedings minute by minute.