MONTREAL — A Liberal organizer who worked for Paul Martin in the 1990s, said Monday she had nothing to do with two sponsorship pitches to the office of then-prime minister Jean Chretien.

Diane Deslauriers, whose aggressive fundraising activities have been singled out by several witnessses, said she never lobbied Chretien's office for a $450,000 contract related to a television series on international trade.

Asked whether she had anything to do with Chretien's office receiving a proposal for the Tradewinds television series in 1996, the former ad executive was categorical.

"I did not contact anyone at the Prime Minister's Office.''

And Deslauriers said she had no role in a 1999 letter from ex-Montreal Canadiens great Serge Savard to Chretien's chief of staff complaining about a cut in funding for a sports group.

"I didn't intervene,'' Deslauriers said of the 1999 letter from Savard to Jean Pelletier for a contract that landed her firm $150,000 in commissions.

Deslauriers, who worked on Martin's 1993 election campaign, reaped major sponsorship income from 1995 to 2001 along with husband Claude Boulay, president of Groupe Everest.

She was grilled at the inquiry about dealings involving Jacques Nadeau, a former associate of hers, related to the Tradewinds series.

Deslauriers was vice-president of Groupe Everest when it won the contract that netted her firm a $45,000 commission plus $55,000 in honorariums and production fees.

Deslauriers said she had tried and failed to meet Jean Carle, a Chretien aide, to lobby for the Tradewinds contract. But she said Nadeau, who was producing the series, sent a written presentation to Chretien's office.

"I think Mr. Nadeau had contacts in Ottawa,'' said Deslauriers.

"Mr. Nadeau said the more we distribute (the pitch), the more people will know about it, the better for us.''

A June 21, 1996, memo to then-public works minister Diane Marleau suggests Chretien's office may have had a hand in deciding to sponsor the Tradewinds series.

Ranald Quail, Marleau's deputy minister, said in the memo "we will advise you as soon as a decision to participate in this project is given by the Prime Minister's Office.''

The memo also noted that "The Privy Council Office ... is co-ordinating this project.''

Quail's memo is part of a body of evidence and testimony heard by inquiry judge John Gomery indicating Chretien's office had a say in sponsorship matters.

One of Quail's former aides told the inquiry last fall that former sponsorship boss Chuck Guite dealt directly with the PMO on sponsorship affairs, to the exclusion of Marleau.

Several witnesses have pointed to Jean Pelletier, Chretien's chief of staff during the 1990s, as the main contact on sponsorship matters.

Everest managed $67 million in sponsorship deals under Boulay's stewardship from 1995 to 2003.

The $250-million program was plunged into scandal in 2003 amid revelations Liberal-friendly middlemen reaped $100 million in commissions, often for performing little work.

Ad man Jean Brault widened the scandal this month when he said he conspired with top party officials to secretly divert $1.1 million into Liberal coffers in exchange for sponsorship contracts.

Boulay and Deslauriers's ties to Martin have also emerged as a sponsorship corruption scandal threatens to sink his minority Liberal government.

Although Martin has tried to downplay his friendship with the couple, Deslauriers said she had him over for brunch while working with him every day on his 1993 election campaign.

Boulay also helped out on Martin's 1990 leadership bid as well as his 1988 campaign in Montreal's LaSalle-Emard riding.

A one-time Liberal worker has also testified he overheard Martin and Boulay discussing a lucrative Everest sponsorship contract at a Liberal fundraiser.

Opposition parties seized on the allegation as proof Martin was mixed up in the corruption scandal, but Boulay joined the prime minister in dismissing the claim by ex-Liberal organizer Alain Renaud.

The inquiry heard Monday that Savard, a Martin backer, complained directly to Pelletier when the group's sponsorship funds were cut in half in 1999.

Savard asked Pelletier to restore $500,000 in public cash to Internationaux du sport de Montreal, mandated to bring large sporting events to the city.

"Allow me to express my great disappointment at this decision (to cut the funds),'' Savard said in the letter dated Dec. 20, 1999.

He said the government was violating a three-year verbal agreement to pump cash into the organization.

But documents indicate Savard's letter didn't bear fruit and ISM's funding was not boosted.

The group has been a lightning-rod for controversry for failing to bring any major events to Montreal despite receiving $1.2 million in sponsorship funds.

Apart from the world aquatics championship to be held this year, its successes were limited to small marginal events. Several were cancelled before they could take place.

The group also has ties to several Liberal stalwarts.

Board members have included one-time Canada Post chairman Andre Ouellet as well as Francis Fox, once Martin's principal secretary.