OTTAWA - The former head of Canada's overseas command says he doesn't recall seeing a key diplomatic memo that reported the first unsubstantiated allegations of prisoner abuse in Afghanistan.
Retired lieutenant-general Michel Gauthier says the April 25, 2007, email from Gavin Buchan, political director of the Kandahar provincial reconstruction base, was not addressed to him.
The report detailed complaints from two prisoners that they had been beaten by their Afghan jailers.
Diplomats began scouring Kandahar and Kabul prisons after published reports warned that Canadian-captured detainees were being abused after they were handed over to local authorities.
Buchan's memo was the first direct report of abuse received by Canadian officials -- allegations that were recommended for follow-up.
Gauthier, the former head of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, says Ottawa was already looking at a better post-transfer monitoring system when the stories appeared and there was a lot of activity at the time of Buchan's memo.
