All charges against former Calgary MP Rob Anders have been dropped on what was supposed to be the first day of a two-week tax evasion trial.
Prosecutor Tyler Lord appeared in Calgary Provincial Court on Monday and told Judge Heather Lamoureux that the Crown had suspended all charges.
“Last week, I was struck by new information, the consideration of which led me to believe that I no longer had a reasonable prospect of conviction,” Lord said in a statement to CBC News.
Outside the courtroom, Anders’ lawyer, Paul Brunnen, told reporters that his client was “very relieved.”
When the Crown holds office, prosecutors have one year to reopen the case, but that rarely happens.
As of Monday, Anders was facing five charges under the Income Tax Act for alleged activity between 2012 and 2018, including three charges for making false or misleading returns, obtaining a refund to which he was not entitled. and evade paying taxes.
Anders was charged with failing to report more than $ 750,000 in income over a six-year period, including alleged crimes that overlapped with his time in government.
Convictions include maximum sentences of two years in prison and fines of between 50 and 200 percent of evaded taxes.
Police and court documents allege fraudulent rental expenses, mysterious deposits, as well as $ 750,000 in undeclared income and capital gains hidden by Anders in the CRA.
Past controversies
The 50-year-old, who helped found the Conservative Party of Canada, served in Calgary from 1997 to 2015, first for the Reform Party and then for the CCP.
In 2014, when Anders lost the battle for Ron Liepert’s nomination to Calgary Signal Hill, ending an 18-year term as deputy, he said his only regret was that his government had not reduced it further. taxes.
Anders supported the Harper government’s initiatives to offer various tax exemptions to Canadians. He was also an open advocate of getting rid of the GST.
Ahead of the battle for the 2014 nominations, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted that Anders had voted in favor of more than 160 tax cuts since he was elected.
The controversy seemed to follow Anders when he was a deputy. The staunch anti-abortion sleeper fell asleep at work, calling Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” and receiving the Veterans Affairs Committee’s button after controversial comments about the NDP.