News regarding the future of former Member of Parliament Raj Grewal who was accused of fraud in the amount of CA$1 million. The Law Society of Ontario has decided to postpone his trial to a later date. However, the political figure will still be allowed to practice law under certain restrictions and being closely monitored until the trial comes to the courtroom.
Allegations state that Mr. Grewal has taken advantage of his authority when he was a member of parliament for Ontario’s Brampton East, and during his term, he has defrauded more than CA$1 million in order to satisfy his compulsive gambling condition. The law society decided to delay Mr. Grewal’s disciplinary hearing on the charges of fraud and breach of trust due to the former MP’s problem with addiction.
Road to Recovery
Nader Hasan is Mr. Grewal’s lawyer on the case and he has requested the postponement of the hearing due to his client’s occurring gambling disorder, which led to committing those crimes. He also added that his client was aware of the problematic gambling and ever since 2018 has been receiving treatment. And in fact, there is a significant improvement in his condition.
According to the lawyer, there will not be a public backlash for allowing Mr. Grewal to continue his practice as a lawyer. And in Mr. Hasan’s word none of the victims has complained to the police authorities or the law society, since the former MP has repaid all of his loans to them.
The society accused Mr. Grewal that he has used false pretenses in order to borrow money from several individuals and even from a company from June 2016 to December 2017, with loan sizes of CA$50,000 to CA$250,000 from each. His lawyer denied any of the loans being related to his client’s law practice and stated that the company loan was from one of his friends that owned the corporation.
After taking into account the presented arguments by Mr. Hasan and the medical condition of his client, the law establishment has decided to grant the requested postponement. In the meantime, has sought help from various Ontario and Quebec programs in order to work on his compulsive gambling. The process is expected to have eight 8 weeks of hearings starting from October in Ottawa.
January 6 Hearing
The former Liberal MP’s last court hearing was on January 6, 2021, when he faced charges for four breaches of trust by RCMP, for his alleged abuse of authority and deceiving several individuals to lend him money. According to the RCMP, the charges that Mr. Grewal will be facing will be around CA$5,000. During the hearing, his lawyer Mr. Hasan has stated that they have prepared over 10GB of information in his client’s defense.
Reasoning
Ex-Liberal MP Raj Grewal was accused of fraud, where he allegedly has taken advantage of his position and deceived people into lending him money. In a Facebook post, Mr. Grewal has publicly admitted that he is suffering from compulsive gambling and that he is a regular visitor of frequenting Casino du Lac Leamy in Gatineau, thus developing the problematic condition and accumulating a significant amount of debt.
Source: Humphreys, Adrian “Former Liberal MP’s gambling addiction in ‘remission’ as he waits for fraud trial, law society hearing told” Montreal Gazette, February 10, 2021
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