OTTAWA—A lawyer speaking for Raj Grewal says the Brampton East MP wants to clarify it was “only” his family that helped pay back money he borrowed to fuel his gambling problem.The lawyer’s statement comes in the wake of questions prompted by Grewal’s 11-minute video statement last Friday, in which the 33-year-old politician describes how his “mental health issue with gambling” drove him into millions of dollars in debt and prompted him to borrow money “solely” from family and friends. He said these loans are completely traceable and that “everybody has been paid back.”That raised questions from NDP ethics critic Nathan Cullen about how Grewal managed to repay the money he borrowed if he was already millions in debt. Joel Etienne, a lawyer responding to questions the Star sent to Grewal’s personal parliamentary email account, responded that the MP wanted to clarify the record. “Mr. Grewal borrowed solely from friends and family and moneys were repaid back only by family,” Etienne said. He said this money was repaid before Grewal met with the Prime Minister’s Office on Nov. 19 to disclose his gambling problem. Grewal said in his video statement that he first came to his family about his “mental health issue” with gambling on Nov. 5. “This is now a private personal family matter,” Etienne said. Reached for comment Wednesday, Cullen said Grewal’s clarification doesn’t dispel all his questions. He said his concern centres on whether Grewal, in taking loans to fuel his gambling, exposed himself as an elected MP to the potential influence of his creditors — something akin to an MP taking outsized campaign contributions from certain individuals. “If the argument is the money was secured by the parents or a sibling, because of the quantity of the money we’re talking about, the same concerns remain,” he said. “I can ...
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