One Government of Alberta Email Review of Premiere Danielle Smith’s broke into the office crown prosecutor The probe, which was conducted, has taken a confusing turn, with two spokespersons giving conflicting statements.
Ethan Lecavalier-Kidney, spokesman for Justice Tyler Shandro, issued a statement that calls into question the earlier comments. Alberta Justice Communications Director Charles Menville.
The review was ordered by Smith a week earlier in response to a CBC story reporting that a Smith staffer had told prosecutors to question decisions and direction on cases stemming from the blockade at Canada-US border crossings. Emailed to pick up. coutsAlta., last year.
The Justice Department said Monday that it conducted a four-month search of incoming, outgoing and deleted emails and found no evidence of contact.
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Two days later, Menville said in a statement that deleted emails are purged from the system after 30 days, meaning that the search for deleted emails cannot cover the entire time period.
Lecavalier-Kidney said in a statement Thursday night that deleted emails may remain in the system for up to 60 days and will be available to investigators.
He did not respond to a request Friday asking him to clarify whether investigators went back 30 or 60 days on the deleted emails.
The government has also given conflicting messages on who was examined in the email review.
Smith promised that the emails of all Crown prosecutors and 34 staff in his office would be investigated.
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However, the Justice Department later said that “relevant” emails between prosecutors and Smith employees had been examined. It did not say how it determined who was relevant.
Smith has said he did not direct prosecutors in the Coates cases and that the email review cleared his office of the “baseless” allegations in the CBC story.
The CBC has said it has not seen the email, but stands by its reporting.
The opposition NDP said the questions arising from the CBC story, combined with several conflicting statements from the Premier of the United Conservative Party about what he said to Justice Department officials about the Coutts cases, could only be resolved through an independent investigation. can be done.
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