Jason Kenney and Top UCP Officials Knew About Identity Fraud and Illegal Donations, ‘Kamikaze’ Donor Says

United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney knew about the identity fraud and illegal donation schemes that occurred during the 2017 UCP leadership vote, one of the donors at the centre of the scandal alleges.

That bombshell allegation was made on Edmonton’s Radio SurSangam last week when Happy Mann, one of the donors to Jason Kenney’s “kamikaze candidate,”  revealed for the first time he is now “co-operating” with investigators working for the Office of Alberta’s Election Commissioner.

“Jason Kenney lied to the public,” Mann told listeners, insisting that Kenney and top party officials had full knowledge of the schemes.

“It is time for the justice minister to intervene and give this matter to the RCMP,” Mann told listeners of the Punjabi-language radio show.

“Albertans need to know the truth before the election.”

During the March 7 radio interview, Mann insisted Kenney and party officials “knew” about the two schemes at the centre of the UCP leadership scandal.

One alleged scheme involved the prohibited use of VPNs and fraudulent e-mail addresses as part of a mass election fraud that saw fake votes cast for Kenney, while the other involved allegations of $40,000 in illegal donations being laundered to a UCP leadership candidate who existed for the sole purpose of attacking Kenney’s main rival, Brian Jean.

“Things happened and I am a witness to it,” Mann said, characterizing himself as a “whistleblower.”

Happy Mann, Radio SurSangam

According to Mann, “thousands of memberships” for the UCP leadership vote were filled-out by people who “did not directly give the money for them,” suggesting their “membership fees” may have been paid for by “someone” else.

Continuing in Punjabi, he told listeners many members of “our community” usually  “do not have e-mail addresses,” particularly seniors. Mann suggested someone later added fake e-mails to the forms and used these to obtain voting PINs.

Asked by one of the radio hosts if the UCP leadership “knew about the money paid for memberships and the e-mails,” Mann replied that the “leadership knew of this” and called Kenney a liar.

Mann also added that he attended multiple meetings where details of the alleged “kamikaze” scheme were planned.

“To target Wildrose,” Mann told listeners, “we had a group that came together: myself, Jeff Callaway, Cam Davies, Randy Kerr and many more who were not happy with Brian Jean.” Mann said the Callaway campaign’s goal was to “take advantage” of disgruntled Wildrosers and “channel that” to “the benefit of Jason Kenney.”

Mann listed the following individuals as participants at secret meetings to plot out the kamikaze mission:

• Jason Kenney.
• Jeff Callaway, the so-called “kamikaze” candidate.
• Randy Kerr, Callaway’s co-campaign manager, who was removed as a UCP candidate under vague circumstances last week.
• Cameron Davies, Callaway’s other co-campaign manager, who was fined $15,000 for obstruction of an investigation by the Election Commissioner two weeks ago.
• And “many more.”

Contacted by PressProgress, Mann confirmed each of those names and identified two additional attendees:

• John Weissenberger, Jason Kenney’s campaign manager.
• A member of the executive team at Harper & Associates, a consulting firm established by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

One meeting took place on October 5th at Jeff Callaway’s house, only a day after Callaway dropped out of the leadership race and endorsed Kenney.

“I was present, (Kenney) was present and I’m the one who provided the food,” Mann told the radio show.

“How did Mr. Jason Kenney forget that meeting?” he asked. “There was more than one meeting. and I’m telling on (the) record, and I have proof and a date of that.”

At this secret meeting, Mann alleged Kenney presented a bottle of “Dark Horse Rum” to Callaway “as a gift, as a token of thank you” to his “kamikaze” candidate (although it is actually a bottle whisky, not rum).

Mann supplied PressProgress with a photo of the bottle of Dark Horse whisky that he says was taken at the secret October 5th meeting.

A second individual, who requested anonymity due to the Election Commissioner’s ongoing investigation, told PressProgress they were present at the secret meeting and identified themselves as the one who took the photo.

They confirmed Kenney presented Callaway with the bottle of Dark Horse whisky at the secret meeting.

Photo of a bottle of Dark Horse whisky Jason Kenney presented to Jeff Callaway

United Conservative Party officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PressProgress.

UPDATE: At a Monday afternoon press conference, Kenney was asked by reporters about the allegations contained in this story.

Kenney stated “there is no identity theft,” and dismissed Mann’s allegations as a “ridiculous conspiracy theory.”

Asked directly if he presented Callaway with the bottle of Dark Horse whisky at a secret meeting in October 2017, Kenney did not deny the allegation, instead stating he keeps a “stock of (whisky) in the pick-up for a gift to homes that I’m visiting.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Calgary’s Red 106.7FM as the South Asian radio station that originally broadcasted this interview. In fact, Mann confirms the interview was broadcasted on Radio SurSangam.