Guité details intervention by Martin

The Globe and Mail has the latest on the Canadian Adscam Scandel and the involvement of Prime Minister Paul Martin:

When he was still finance minister, Paul Martin was one of three cabinet ministers who intervened to make sure that a Toronto ad agency wouldn’t lose its lucrative government contracts if it was to be sold to a foreign conglomerate, the Gomery inquiry has been told.

The startling claim linking the prime minister to the Adscam scandal was made at the inquiry headed by Mr. Justice John Gomery by Chuck Guité, the former head of the federal sponsorship program.

Mr. Guité’s testimony last week was under publication ban until Judge Gomery lifted the embargo Wednesday. A Quebec Superior Court judge temporarily placed the ban back on his testimony but later allowed the details to be published.

Martin spokesman Scott Reid dismissed the testimony as a third-hand — and false — allegation.

“The prime minister never involved himself in the contracting process — never involved himself in the determination of contract awards. Period,” Mr. Reid told The Canadian Press

While troubling, the allegation against Mr. Martin is based on hearsay from someone who has since died and cannot be called before the inquiry.

However, any allegation involving Mr. Martin will likely be seized on by opposition politicians keener on attacking the current prime minister than talking about the more substantial accusations against his predecessor’s entourage.

Beyond the allegation involving Mr. Martin, Mr. Guité’s testimony was a sweeping indictment of a federal procurement system which, he said, was geared toward rewarding friends of the party in power with profitable ad contracts….

Read the rest here.

CTV has the story here.

Update #1

Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarter’s has this.

The handwriting is on the wall: Paul Martin is DIRTY in Adscam.

The people of Canada are entitled to vote on his government. Look for the no-confidence vote push next week when government leaders return from Europe.

A mid-summers night dream(election) = a new Prime Minister.