OTTAWA – Fresh details are emerging about investigations into those fraudulent robocalls during the last election.
Michael Sona told several people he was involved in the misleading phone calls during the last election, Elections Canada alleges in a newly unsealed court document.
However, some of them said they didn’t know whether or not to believe Sona — who worked on the campaign of Guelph, Ont., Conservative candidate Marty Burke _ saying he was prone to exaggeration.
The document also reveals Conservative Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton sat in as Elections Canada investigators interviewed witnesses in March and April of 2012.
These new details, which have not been proven in court, are contained in a document called an information to obtain a production order.
Until Monday, much of that document had been under a publication ban. Media outlets are now allowed to publish some details but much of the document, including the names of the witnesses and other key details, remain under the ban.
In the document, Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews says he has grounds to believe “that Michael Sona, in the period shortly after election day, advised several of his acquaintances of participation in the false calls made to Guelph voters.”
Elections Canada’s investigation has focused on the Guelph riding in southwestern Ontario, where a number of residents say they received automated phone calls from someone claiming to be from Elections Canada and directing them to a wrong or non-existent polling station.
Sona has been charged with “having wilfully prevented or endeavoured to prevent an elector from voting at an election.”
So far, Sona is the only person charged in connection with the so-called robocalls affair. He insists he’s being made a scapegoat.
On Monday evening, Sona took to Twitter to defend himself. He cast doubt on Mathews’ investigation.
Sona’s lawyer, Norm Boxall, was not immediately available to comment.
