OTTAWA (Reuters) - A pizza shop owner who forced former Canadian immigration minister Judy Sgro to resign by claiming she had offered to help him avoid deportation has admitted he lied and has apologised, Sgro said on Tuesday.
Sgro quit her job in January after Harjit Singh filed an affidavit accusing her of offering to help him stay in Canada in return for pizza deliveries and assistance with her election campaign. Singh was deported to India in February.
"I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems," Singh wrote in a letter to Sgro which she read out in Parliament.
At the time of her resignation, Sgro was also under investigation by Parliament's ethics commissioner for giving a temporary residency permit to a Romanian stripper who had worked on her election campaign. She also extended the woman's expired work permit.
The commissioner told Sgro this week that she had done nothing wrong but had been put in a conflict of interest by staff who did not give her all the details about the stripper.
Sgro quit her job in January after Harjit Singh filed an affidavit accusing her of offering to help him stay in Canada in return for pizza deliveries and assistance with her election campaign. Singh was deported to India in February.
"I now admit I did not have a meeting with Judy Sgro and at no time did she request any campaign assistance from me. Nor did she help me with my immigration problems," Singh wrote in a letter to Sgro which she read out in Parliament.
At the time of her resignation, Sgro was also under investigation by Parliament's ethics commissioner for giving a temporary residency permit to a Romanian stripper who had worked on her election campaign. She also extended the woman's expired work permit.
The commissioner told Sgro this week that she had done nothing wrong but had been put in a conflict of interest by staff who did not give her all the details about the stripper.
