The private investigator who made public allegations against ex-Tory cabinet minister Helena Guergis believes the RCMP have launched a formal investigation into her conduct.

Derrick Snowdy told The Canadian Press Thursday that he had handed over relevant files to police investigators on Wednesday.

"It was my second meeting with them and everything has now been turned over to them and I think we can say safely say they are satisfied and moving forward," Snowdy told CP.

"They said, 'We're in the middle of an investigation.'"

It was Snowdy's allegations earlier this month that forced Guergis from the Tory caucus.

The scandal centres on accusations that Guergis breached parliamentary ethics when she wrote a letter to a local politician in Ontario. Guergis' letter touts a green tech company with ties to her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer.

Guergis, meanwhile, says she sent the letter only after deciding that her husband had "no business links or financial interest" in the project.

Additionally, Jaffer is battling accusations that he partook in lobbying practices without registering as a lobbyist.

The scandal erupted after Snowdy approached Conservative brass with a file he had amassed on Guergis and Jaffer.

Snowdy has said that he gleaned the information about the former political power couple during his own investigation into Toronto businessman Nazim Gillani.

Gillani and Jaffer were reported to have had business links.

Gillani speaks

Meanwhile, Gillani says he believed Jaffer had the expertise to help him get access to government money, a service he said the former MP advertised online.

Through a spokesperson, Nazim Gillani said Thursday that he believed the descriptions on Jaffer's personal and corporate websites, which indicated that he could provide government relations services to clients.

Gillani is due to speak to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates next week.

That's the same parliamentary committee that grilled Jaffer Wednesday, amid allegations that he engaged in improper lobbying.

The 38-year-old Jaffer was called to speak to the committee Wednesday, along with Patrick Glemaud, an Ottawa businessman and former Conservative candidate with whom he shares business interests.

Both Jaffer and Glemaud are partners in Green Power Generation Corp., a company that promotes sustainable technologies and renewable energy products. Neither man is registered as a lobbyist on Parliament Hill.

In Ottawa Wednesday, the two men found themselves on the defensive as they were blasted by Liberal, NDP and Conservative committee members with questions about potential lobbying activities they may have engaged in.

Jaffer and Glemaud insisted they were never paid for their activities and never engaged in lobbying. Instead the duo said they wrote briefs analyzing whether the companies they were talking to would be eligible for money from Ottawa's Green Infrastructure Fund.

"I took great care to avoid any type of activity whether it be lobbying or trying to influence anyone," Jaffer said, in response to the allegations.

On Thursday, Gillani said through his spokesperson that he believed Jaffer's company could help get projects advanced with public servants and members of the government, so that clients could get access to loans and grants from Ottawa.

The issue of whether Jaffer was engaged in lobbying came up in a heated exchange during question period Thursday.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeatedly said there were no government contracts or business involved.

Opposition MPs remain unconvinced. Liberal MP Bob Rae said that what Jaffer is alleged to have been involved in "looks like lobbying, it swims like lobbying … and it smells a lot like lobbying, so it must be lobbying."

At the end of the Wednesday hearing, Jaffer and Glemaud were ordered to disclose the names of three companies they worked with on obtaining government funding. If they do not comply, they will be viewed as being in contempt of Parliament, committee chair Yasmin Ratansi said yesterday.

The order came after Glemaud told the company he could not remember the names of the businesses he and Jaffer had worked with.

Â鶹ӰÊÓ has learned that one of those companies was Green Rite Solutions, the sales arm of Wright Tech Systems, a company that offers environmentally friendly waste management technology. It's a company that Jaffer had been associated with and that his wife had written a letter of support for in her Ontario riding.

Glemaud purportedly showed sitting MPs a proposal asking for $100 million to give to Green Rite Solutions.

But the committee still has more questions about Jaffer and Glemaud's business dealings, which will be put forward at a second hearing next week.

Gillani to talk to committee

Earlier this month, the Toronto Star printed a report about a September business meeting that involved Gillani, Mihelic and Jaffer, as well as other business associates.

The Star report said that on Sept. 10, 2009, the men discussed means of obtaining government funds for business projects and access to a "green fund" was allegedly brought up during the meeting.

When Jaffer drove home from the meeting, the Star report said he was stopped by the OPP in Palgrave, Ont., and initially charged with cocaine possession and driving under the influence. He later pleaded guilty to careless driving and the more serious charges were dropped.

The next day, Gillani sent out an email suggesting Jaffer had "opened up the Prime Minister's Office to us."

After the Star report was printed, the Prime Minister's Office said Jaffer had no access to the Conservative government and any such claim to the contrary was "absurd."

With files from The Canadian Press