The RCMP should expand its criminal probe into George Radwanski's alleged mismanagement and misspending at the Privacy Commission to include the examination of a $35,000 personal loan he received from his chief of staff, opposition MPs said yesterday. RCMP investigators should examine potential links between the loan Mr. Radwanski received in 2001 from Arthur Lamarche, his chief of staff, and the privacy commissioner's subsequent decisions to boost the same bureaucrat's pay and pension benefits by more than 20%, the opposition MPs said. The calls for the RCMP probe came as Howard Wilson, the Ethics Counsellor, told the National Post Mr. Radwanski never declared the personal loan to his office as required by the federal ethics code. "I'm flabbergasted. I thought I'd seen it all with this guy and more keeps surfacing. I want the RCMP investigation expanded to include this loan. He's got more gall than Caesar," said Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin, who was a member of a Commons committee that investigated Mr. Radwanski this summer. John Williams, an Alberta Canadian Alliance MP and chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, also wants the RCMP to scrutinize the undeclared loan. "Though Mr. Radwanski denies any connection between the loan from his chief of staff and the subsequent pay increases received by this person, it's hard for ordinary people not to wonder whether a connection does exist. That's why we need the RCMP to take a long, hard look at it," Mr. Williams said. "We cannot have senior public servants and officers of Parliament borrowing from subordinates. We cannot tolerate such behaviour," he added. "A person should also not be able to use taxpayers' money to do a subordinate a favour after lending the boss money." The National Post revealed Mr. Lamarche's $35,000 loan to his boss on Monday, noting that Mr. Radwanski twice modified and boosted Mr. Lamarche's job classification -- most recently in April, 2002 -- giving the senior bureaucrat pay increases topping 20% and improved pension benefits. Mr. Wilson said that while Mr. Radwanski was required to report getting a $35,000 personal loan from Mr. Lamarche in the financial reports that he and other public officer holders must file with federal ethics officials, his office was unaware of any such loan until it was revealed by the Post. Mr. Wilson said political appointees such as Mr. Radwanski, a former speechwriter for Jean Chretien and editor of the Toronto Star, must complete a detailed confidential report in which they list all assets, liabilities and debts upon taking office. They must also update the reports with changes in their financial situations in annual reviews they file with the Office of the Ethics Counsellor, he added. "There was an annual review for Mr. Radwanski subsequent to the date of the $35,000 loan from Mr. Lamarche. There was no disclosure of the loan even though there was an opportunity for disclosure," Mr. Wilson said. "We would expect people to give us the full details about changes in their liabilities." Mr. Radwanski has denied any link between the $35,000 personal loan and his subsequent decisions to increase Mr. Lamarche's pay package by more than 20%. "Quite honestly, it never even crossed my mind because there was absolutely no correlation between the two," Mr. Radwanski said. "It wasn't some kind of huge favour to me. I could have done it any number of other ways. It didn't cost him anything. I paid interest and God knows, I was good for it," he added. Mr. Radwanski resigned in disgrace on June 23 after an all-party Commons committee said it had lost confidence in him following weeks of scandal amid allegations that he falsified documents and misled a Commons committee. Mr. Lamarche, 57, left the Privacy Commission in July, taking early retirement. In a report to Parliament in September, Sheila Fraser, the Auditor-General, criticized Mr. Radwanski's job reclassifications and pay increases for Mr. Lamarche and others, saying they showed "disregard for legislation and regulations" and were both unjustified and excessive. She called in the RCMP to investigate several irregularities that occurred on Mr. Radwanski's watch, saying he and Mr. Lamarche both abused their positions and "turned a blind eye to breaches of law and policy." Both men dismissed the Auditor-General's report as unfair and inaccurate. The Auditor-General's staff had no knowledge about the $35,000 loan from Mr. Lamarche at the time they criticized the job reclassifications he enjoyed.
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