Above the Law: The Crooks, the Politicians, the Mounties and Rod StamlerIn 1989, Assistant Commissioner Rod Stamler quit the RCMP in dismay at what had happened to the integrity of the police force he'd joined as a young man. As head of the force's Economic Crime Directorate - its fraud and corruption unit - Stamler found his investigations were being stymied by a federal government intent on protecting its own. There was, he decided, no future for him in a police force that allowed itself to be directed by politicians who placed themselves above the law. In his book, no one was above the law, no one. When Stamler left, he took his personal records with him, documents he later allowed Paul Palango, an award-winning journalist, to peruse. The result of their collaboration is "Above the Law," a chilling portrait of a man and a police force under increasing political pressure to look the other way whenever a good friend of the government illegally dipped into the public purse. Almost from his very first investigation of corporate corruption, when Stamler joined the new Commercial Crime Branch in 1968, he found that the paper trails he followed led to the doors of Canada's elite. He first discovered an attempt to rig bids in the proposed salvage of the sunken oil tanker the "Irving Whale." He then went on to uncover habitual dredging scams in Hamilton Harbour, massive fraud on the Department of Regional Economic Expansion by the Cartier Mint, and major corruption in the Sky Shops affair involving Senator Louis Giguere. Now he was investigating whether Senator Michel Cogger had been peddling his influence with his good friend Prime Minister Brian Mulroney - an investigation doomed by the RCMP's obsequiousness toward the Mulroney government. A once proud and independent police force had been leashed by its self-proclaimed political masters. |
Contents
Preface | 11 |
Acknowledgements | 17 |
One Politician Two Ships and the LimePit | 26 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
allegations arrest asked bank bankruptcy believed Brian Mulroney Bryce Mackasey called Canada Canadian charge Cogger Commercial Crime Branch commissioner committee conspiracy Cooper court Danielson deal deputy Don Jamieson Drapeau dredging DREE Drug Enforcement Elliott evidence federal files force Foundation Company fraud Gazette Giguère Girouard Globe and Mail going Gordon Grégoire Guy Montpetit Hamilton Harbour Henry Jensen Inkster inquiry involved Irving Whale judge Kealey Kennedy Kerr Lac Saint-Pierre Landry later lawyer Liberal Mackasey Marchand Marine Marsden McDonald Commission McKendry meeting ment Michel Cogger Montreal Mounties Mulroney Munro never Norman Inkster Ontario operations Ottawa Parliament Hill Party Pelletier police investigation police officer political politicians prime minister prosecution prosecutor Quebec RCMP RCMP's Rindress Robert Simmonds salvage search warrant Security Service senator Simmonds Sky Shops solicitor-general Stamler says Stamler thought story suspected talk Tarasofsky tion told Stamler Tories Toronto Trudeau Vidosa wanted