Bribery and Perjury Charges for Conservatives?

Remember the Cadman Affair? the One Stephen Harper is suing the Liberals over? Just in time for the election it's back. The audio tape at the center of the controversy was sent, by Stephen Harper, for inspection and his expert came back with results that aren't helpful to Stephen Harper.

"But former FBI agent Bruce Koenig, the sound expert Harper hired to prove his allegations, submitted a report dated Friday to Harper's lawyer, which also had to be sent to the Liberal lawyer Chris Paliare.

In the report, Koenig concluded that the first part of Zytaruk's interview with Harper, which contains the key portions that the prime minister has contested, was intact.

The second part, beginning roughly one minute and 41 seconds into the tape, was a new recording that was made over the final part of the original recording, he said. But the first crucial minute and 41 seconds had not been altered.
Koenig reported that the tape "contains neither physical nor electronic splices, edits or alterations, except for the over-recording start that erased and replaced the end of the first part of the designated interview.""

On the tape Stephen Harper says

""I don't know the details, I know that, um, there were discussions," Harper said. The Conservatives who approached Cadman believed there were financial issues, he said, and "Of the, uh, uh, the offer to Chuck was that, it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election."

Last month Harper's lawyer convinced the court to postpone a hearing into the veracity of the audio tape until after the election but Harper has stated in sworn testimony that the tape was edited and has denied saying that he did not know the details of the offer. So in addition to possible bribery charges, there is now the possibility of a perjury charge.

Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke has said that ""This report supports our position that the tape does not represent the complete interview, and as such is favourable to our case," however that does not seem to be the case at all. The fact that the recording was apparently recorded over a different recording does not, in any way, indicate that that tape was edited or altered and while it may not be a recording of the "complete interview" that was never the question.

It remains to be seen whether this information will enter public consciousness before Tuesdays election or, should the conservatives win, what would happen if a Prime Minister were charged with a crime while in office. Perhaps Stephen Harper should reconsider his position on house arrest?