Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer contacted seven departments over the last year, and sometimes used a parliamentary email account linked to his wife, former cabinet minister Helena Guergis, for business purposes, documents show.
Â鶹ӰÊÓ has obtained more than 50 pages of documents from the last year that outline Jaffer's contact. They show and that in some cases, government bureaucrats were pushed to respond quickly to his requests -- but Jaffer and his clients were never given any money.
It was more fuel for the fire, in an extremely damaging day for Jaffer, as Toronto businessman Nazim Gillani contradicted earlier testimony given by the former Tory MP, presenting documents of a contract with Jaffer's company to help secure government funding.
The Sept. 21 contract which Jaffer entered into with Gillani's business, International Strategic Investments, states that Jaffer "has valuable connections to and with the government of Canada and various departments, ministries ... and non-participatory government funding."
But Gillani told the House of Commons committee looking into the possibility of improper lobbying that Jaffer did not offer to do "anything underhanded."
"Simply, they said they knew how to negotiate the government maze," he told the committee.
"However, they never obtained any grant money for any company referred to by ISI. ISI never paid any money or gave any compensation to them or their company."
Gillani denied some of the other allegations floating around about Jaffer and his wife.
He said he never saw Jaffer use cocaine, never took photos of any cocaine use, and he only met Guergis once, at a social dinner where no business was discussed.
The documents presented to the House of Commons committee say that Jaffer and Gillani were planning a business trip to China and Jaffer was lobbying the federal government on behalf of an Alberta green technology company.
New Democrat MP Pat Martin said the committee now wants to have Jaffer testify again, to explain the discrepancies between Jaffer's testimony and what Gillani said.
It was a private investigator's interest in Gillani's business that led to Guergis losing her cabinet job and being kicked out of the Tory caucus.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said there was "serious allegations" about Guergis and said they have been forwarded to the authorities.
Email at centre of controversy
Gillani had claimed in an email that Jaffer could open doors to the Prime Minister's Office for his business associates.
On Wednesday, Gillani said he was overly enthusiastic in that email and Jaffer never claimed that.
"It was an awful choice of words, I should never have said that," he said. "I got carried away."
He clarified that Jaffer presented himself as someone who could "understand the maze of government."
Jaffer and his partner, Patrick Glemaud, have denied any improper lobbying.
Gillani said he did not like dealing with the government so he looked for intermediaries to take care of that part of his business. He also said he was unaware of lobbying rules or Accountability Act until the scandal broke out earlier this month.
Gillani also said the reason he went into business with Jaffer, and not one of the 6,000 registered lobbyists, was that they were of the same religion and were introduced by Gillani's cousin.
He also said his company has been wiped out by the scandal and blamed the media for their "outrageous" stories about him.
Additionally, Gillani said he lost his girlfriend over the entire affair.
He scoffed at a media report that said he and Jaffer dined with "busty hookers," saying it was his ex-girlfriend and two of her friends.
Gillani has had run-ins with the law before. He pleaded guilty to not paying taxes last year and has more than a dozen civil cases against him in B.C. courts.
He is also facing a fraud charge in Ontario.
However, he denied having any connection with organized crime during his testimony.
With a report by CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife