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Harper government denounces corruption after arrest of former Conservative staffer

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government expressed surprise and disappointment Monday after learning that one of its own former staffers had been arrested in an anti-corruption raid that also targeted the Montreal mayor.

Saulie Zajdel, a former Montreal city councillor, federal Conservative candidate and political aide in the office of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore faces five charges related to corruption, breach of trust and fraud. The charges focus on municipal permits issued for construction projects between 2006 and 2011.

Mayor Michael Applebaum was arrested in the same raid. He resigned on Tuesday saying the charges were unfounded and that he would prove his innocence.

Zajdel could not immediately be reached for comment and the charges have not been proven in court.

Facing numerous questions from NDP and Liberal MPs, Moore said the allegations stem from events prior to Zajdel’s involvement in federal politics and that the government wasn’t aware of the police investigation when it hired the former city councillor, who was defeated as a Conservative candidate in the May 2011 election.

“To be clear, if Mr. Zajdel or Mr. Applebaum have in any way broken the law, they should have the book thrown at them and they should be accountable to the full extent of the law,” Moore said.

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Opposition MPs described Zajdel’s as a “shadow MP” who at one time used his taxpayer-funded job in Moore’s office to undermine Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, the candidate who had defeated him in the Montreal riding of Mount-Royal.

NDP leader Tom Mulcair said in the House of Commons that Zajdel had joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper “at a happy hour pub stop” in Montreal in March 2012.

“He was a municipal council for over 23 years and his job in my office, in the regional office there, was to do co-ordination with cultural communities in the city of Montreal,” Moore said.

Cotler had previously questioned Zajdel’s role in the wake of a phone campaign, sponsored by the Tories in the fall of 2011, misleading residents in the Montreal riding that the Liberal MP was about to retire and asking if they would support the Conservative candidate in a byelection.

Cotler declined  comment about the arrests Monday, saying the matter was under investigation and that “everyone benefits from the presumption of innocence.”

Zajdel confirmed he had quit his job in Moore’s office in April 2012 in the wake of the allegations that the government was using him to undermine the duly elected Cotler.

Download: saulie-zajdel1.mp3

A few days after Zajdel left the minister’s office, Moore said the former city councillor was on a contract with a fixed departure date and had done “good work,” Montreal daily newspaper Le Devoir reported.

Zajdel was reportedly paid a salary of about $60,000 during his time in Moore’s office, but lightheartedly told a Canadian Press reporter, during Harper’s March 2012 visit, that it was not the six-figure salary he wanted.

Moore dismissed a question from Liberal MP Marc Garneau, asking about whether the government did an adequate background check on Zajdel.

Meantime, when asked about the charges against Zajdel, Conservative party spokesman Fred DeLorey said that it was a “surprise.” “He did not disclose this to us through the screening process, nor did this come up in the background checks,” DeLorey said.

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