No charges laid in Alberta RCMP investigation into 2017 UCP leadership contest

While there were "suspected instances of potential identity fraud" in the 2017 UCP leadership vote, the Alberta RCMP said there wasn't enough evidence to lay charges.

While there were “suspected instances of potential identity fraud” in the 2017 United Conservative leadership vote, the Alberta RCMP said Friday there wasn’t enough evidence to lay charges.

In 2019, the RCMP received a complaint about the alleged wrongdoings in the 2017 leadership race and voting contest to pick the new UCP leader.

The RCMP opened an investigation.

The first allegation was that leadership candidate Jeff Callaway entered the race solely to attack another candidate and planned to withdraw from the race and endorse Jason Kenney.

Elections Alberta investigated contributions to Callaway’s campaign.

After 170 interviews and examining more than 25,000 related emails, the RCMP “did not uncover evidence to establish that Callaway or any other person committed any criminal offence,” RCMP Supt. Rick Jane said.

The second allegation was that voter fraud occurred in the UCP leadership contest, particularly that emails were created in order to receive PINs and vote on peoples’ behalf without their consent or knowledge.

The RCMP investigation found “several suspicious cross-sections of voters where multiple votes were cast from the same phone number, or originated from the same IP address.