VANCOUVER — Embattled Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal, already on stress leave and facing allegations on several fronts, obtained his Canadian citizenship by pretending he was a business entrepreneur, alleges a man who said he participated in the scheme.

Gurwinder Dhillon said Wednesday that Grewal was a carpet salesman at his company when the MP bought $50,000 in shares on April 15, 1993, but that Grewal sold them back the next day in what he said amounted to a phoney transaction. Dhillon said he wrote a cheque back to Grewal's lawyer.

A Conservative spokeswoman said the latest allegation to surface against Grewal is actually old and is unfounded.
Grewal came to Canada in 1991 from Liberia and hoped to become a Canadian citizen by establishing himself as an entrepreneur who would start up his own business, Dhillon said.

At that time, Citizenship and Immigration required prospective entrepreneurial immigrants to manage a business that would be set up within two years, provide employment opportunities, including to at least one Canadian, and make a significant contribution to the economy.

The alleged deal with Dhillon would be aimed at satisfying those citizenship requirements.

Grewal wasn't available for comment after calls to his constituency and parliamentary offices, but Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's press secretary, said there was nothing to the allegation.

"This is an old allegation and we're assured it has no basis in fact," Stewart-Olsen said in Ottawa.

Grewal is on stress leave after giving the RCMP tapes that he secretly recorded of conversations he had with the federal health minister, Ujjal Dosanjh, and the prime minister's chief of staff, Tim Murphy.

In the tapes, Grewal discusses crossing the floor to sit as a Liberal in exchange for a cabinet post and either a Senate seat or diplomatic job for his wife, fellow Conservative MP Nina Grewal.

Dhillon said he kept the alleged citizenship deal with Grewal to himself until last year, when Grewal's wife was nominated for the Tories. At the time, he said felt he had to come forward and called mainstream media in Vancouver, but the story didn't gain attention.

Dhillon said he couldn't keep the alleged citizenship scheme to himself any longer because Grewal and his wife are now into politics as a "family business."

"Thirteen years of agonizing, I've probably tortured myself over it for a long time," he said.

"A lot of it is that I didn't want to be doing anything bad, bringing out somebody's past. There's a lot of immigrants who come to Canada and get their immigration and become good people afterwards.

"But you could say I'd had it once his wife was nominated."

Grewal has also been under fire over allegations he asked his constituents to post bonds to get his help in obtaining temporary visas. The allegations against Grewal and another Tory were made by Immigration Minister Joe Volpe, who also asked for an RCMP investigation.

In the taped conversations, Grewal has acknowledged wanting Volpe to retract the allegations.

He has also denied any wrongdoing in the taped conversations he had with Dosanjh, saying he was approached by the Liberals about the possibility of crossing the floor before a crucial May 19 confidence vote, which the government narrowly survived.

The NDP and Bloc have called for an RCMP investigation into the matter.

Grewal went on stress leave earlier this week when it emerged that Air Canada had launched an investigation of an incident at the Vancouver airport where an anxious Grewal was reportedly seen asking several passengers if they could carry an important package for him to Ottawa.

Conservative sources have said Grewal was scrambling to send them full copies of the tapes that triggered the political controversy.

Dhillon said he also realizes he could be in trouble for his involvement in the alleged scheme but that justice should now prevail in any investigation about how Grewal obtained his citizenship.

"Whatever happens should be fair to Canadians and fair to taxpayers and fair to Mr. Grewal. I was also perpetrated in that and the law should look at it."

Greg Scott, a spokesman with Citizenship and Immigration, said he couldn't say if there would be an investigation into the allegation and that he wouldn't be able to comment on an individual case anyway, even if it involves an elected official.

"In general terms, where there are allegations that somebody has obtained their citizenship, or in fact their permanent residence on the basis of misrepresentation or fraud, that's something we take very seriously," Scott said.

The latest news involving Grewal had listeners clogging phone lines at Punjabi radio talk shows on Wednesday, with callers saying Grewal's political career is finished.

Harjinder Thind, host of an open-line talk show at Sher-e Punjab, said Dhillon called his program, further igniting an already hot topic.

"We had almost two hours of callers," Thind said. "Every caller, one after another, is upset."

Thind said 99 per cent of callers were against Grewal.

Callers were also critical of Dosanjh for appearing in the taped conversations to be making a deal with Grewal to join the Liberal party before the crucial vote on the budget, Thind said.

But Grewal is getting the most criticism, he said.

"It's such a big thing that nobody's talking about . . . anything else."