So RCMP are investigating “something” and asking this Coquitlam resident about his Liberal party membership renewal and voting online in the 2011 leadership race.
RCMP investigation raising questions
Since RCMP can't comment about an ongoing investigation, we can only speculate as to what this is about exactly. Sanjay Sharma came to us because he works in sales for our sister paper in Coquitlam, which the RCMP knew when they talked to him. He also said the RCMP seemed interested when he mentioned Harry Bloy.
If I had to guess solely based on the line of questioning from the police, I would suspect it was related to voter fraud allegations surrounding the 2011 Liberal leadership race.
Media reports at the time pointed out some issues with the leadership race: 6,000 new memberships were tossed out due to ineligibility. Apparently, one of Christy Clark's supporters had signed up her cat, and Kevin Falcon's team had signed up some hockey players without their knowledge. The Liberals would not publicly say whose camp the ineligible memberships were tied to.
There was also the online voting issue. The Liberals hired Intelivote, a Nova Scotia company, to handle the online voting, but they didn't opt for identification confirmation (which I suspect is how the cat signed up with no SIN number). The NDP apparently did the same thing; both parties could have required users to verify their identity but chose not to.
This raises concerns about the potential for voter fraud, which is obviously not an outlandish concern, considering 6,000 memberships were thrown out.
However, I spoke to both RCMP officers, who were very helpful and polite, but neither could say much of anything, as the investigation is ongoing. One said there was already information out in public about this, which is why I went with the special prosecutor angle. If that’s the connection, that investigation could be tied to a number of things that came up during the review of the ethnic vote scandal. It could include the above issue and more things. We really won’t be able to know until the investigation is complete and the report comes out.
Here are some other things from the exchange between Sanjay Sharma and the police:
Police produced a form with Sharma’s handwriting on it, and asked him if he remembered completing it. He said yes. It was his Liberal membership renewal form.
The police showed Sharma two pieces of paper and asked him if he remembered receiving one in the mail. He said yes. The paper was instructions on how to vote online and included a PIN number for doing so.
They asked Sharma is he went online to vote, and he did.
PS: something else to note, Harry Bloy was the only caucus member who supported Clark's leadership bid.
Bloy and Brian Bonney, who took the fall in the review of the ethnic vote scandal, often work together. When one's involved, the other is not far behind.
We contacted both, (calls and texts to both their cell numbers), but neither replied.
