Expelled Indian high commissioner denies involvement in criminal activities in Canada

Canadian officials have yet to present evidence to support their allegations that Indian agents are behind a vast network of violence and intimidation in Canada, India’s outgoing high commissioner says .

In an interview broadcast on CTV News a week after the RCMP made its investigation public, Sanjay Kumar Verma denied any link between the Indian government and the murder last year of a Sikh separatist activist in British Columbia. “I completely refute that connection,” he said.

When asked if he was involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Mr Verma said: “Nothing at all, politically motivated, no evidence presented. »

Mr. Verma is one of six Indian diplomats who were expelled from Canada after the RCMP deemed them “persons of interest” as part of an investigation into what the force describes as an alleged campaign of violence, extortion and intimidation directed against the Sikh diaspora by agents. of the Indian government of Narendra Modi.

He repeatedly said throughout the interview that Canada had presented no evidence to support its claims that Indian officials were involved in criminal activities in Canada.

“Unfortunately, no evidence has been shared with us,” he told CTV show host Vassy Kapelos. Question periodin the interview.

Commissioner Mike Duheme said last Monday that the RCMP had “clear and convincing evidence” that Indian agents have engaged and continue to engage in “activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.”

Describing the sequence of events that led to the highly unusual press conference, the RCMP said in a statement that Mark Flynn, the deputy commissioner of the federal police, “attempted to meet with his Indian enforcement counterparts of the law to discuss violent extremism occurring in Canada. and India, and present evidence regarding the involvement of Indian government agents in serious criminal activities in Canada.

These attempts were “unsuccessful,” the RCMP said, and so the evidence was “presented directly to Indian government officials.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indian government and Indian law enforcement agencies have “repeatedly refused” to work with their Canadian counterparts, despite the “clear and convincing evidence” the RCMP shared with Indian officials .

Mr. Verma, in the interview, described bureaucratic problems that prevented a meeting at which such evidence could have been presented. He said that when Canadian law enforcement officials wanted to meet with their Indian counterparts, they submitted visa documents at the last minute, with “no agenda” provided to Indian officials who would have to process the travel requests.

“I think it was planned in advance,” he said, adding: “I think it was absolutely politically motivated.”

At one point, Mr. Verma tacitly acknowledged that the RCMP had indeed claimed to have evidence.

“To what extent they are politically independent, we can discuss until the cows come home,” he said, adding: “I will give you my view: up to two days previously they were saying there was no evidence to share in the foreign defense committee meeting and suddenly all the evidence in the world was available with them.

At another point in the interview, Mr. Verma first denied engaging in surveillance of Sikh separatist activists in Canada, then said Indian diplomats were only monitoring public statements and activities — “nothing of secrecy” – political adversaries on Canadian soil.

Daniel Stanton, a former CSIS agent, said he thought it was “a bit of a slip of the tongue” when Mr. Verma talked about how he and his colleagues collect information on Sikh militants in Canada, as if the “overt” methods he described were legitimate.

He also said Mr. Verma had confused the reasons why the RCMP had not been able to meet with their Indian counterparts. “He goes around a little bit, he complicates things,” he said. “And its complexity is only surpassed by the absurdity of the whole thing. They just refuse to meet, right? I mean, we heard this, we heard everywhere – in Singapore, Dubai, everywhere – that they refused to meet.

Ultimately, Mr. Stanton said, Mr. Verma’s intended audience for the interview was likely the Indian government and public.

“I think he was clearly given instructions to do that,” he said. “That’s the line they’ve always taken.”