Friday, April 16, 2010

Magnum PI is NOT $13 Million in Debt

The big headline right now over at the CBC news website is "Private eye in Guergis case $13M in debt", which is not factually correct. He filed a bankruptcy claim while there is a civil suit against him from a former partner that demands compensation for ownership for a business that went out of business. I thought 50% of zero was zero, but I could be mistaken. The bankruptcy people told him that he had to report the full amount of the suit against him in his bankruptcy claim, but there is a 50-50 chance that he wins the civil case.

I'm not defending the guy, I don't know if he's credible, and I certainly don't know if I trust him; but 95% of the $13 million is the maximum possible payout on a lawsuit that hasn't happened yet, where someone is demanding payment for equity in a company that went out of business. The CBC might be a little too hasty throwing Magnum under the bus for "being $13 million in debt". Why the left would shift from attacking Guergis to attacking Magnum makes sense, because discrediting Magnum allows them to call into question the Prime Minister ever taking them seriously. Make no mistake, the opposition will absolutely attack the credibility of the Prime Minister for calling an investigation based on information from a PI $13 million in debt.

But also, you can't very well say that Magnum was trying to help the Conservatives (he allegedly identifies himself as a loyal Tory), because he went to Donolo first. Trust me, if you have potentially explosive information and you want to help the Tories, your first call isn't to Donolo. Is he credible? At this point I can't make that determination, but the Tory loyalty pitch doesn't fly if he had allegations of a Cabinet Minister snorting blow and his first call was to Iggy's office. He only called a Tory attorney when the Liberals ignored him. And yet he made very serious allegations, which absolutely warrants a police investigation.

Stephen Harper handled this situation entirely as he should have, and I expect Helena to be invited back into caucus if and when she is cleared of any wrongdoing.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for clarifying that. The news is coming fast and furious on this. The Star even has a subheader on its main page titled, 'Jaffer/Geurgis Scandal.'

    I thought it was masquerading as a newspaper, but I guess the veil is off, and it's nothing more than the National Enquirer for Toronto...

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  2. 'The CBC might be a little too hasty throwing Magnum under the bus'

    Big surprise eh.
    Was there ANY reporter, journalist, media that came out in Helena/Jaffer defence BEFORE yesterday's defending their shredded remains became the 'new pile on'?

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  3. Love what happens to media mouths when lawyers start getting into the picture. You won't find this interview highlighted on CBC:

    http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/04/16/f-kilgore-seglins-transcript.html

    I really hope that Ms. Guergis has a top notch lawyer working on all of this.

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