$13,000 = Mystery deepens over Khan's Middle East report

Mystery deepens over Khan's Middle East report
February 6, 2007

OTTAWA (CP) — A foreign affairs official helped Wajid Khan shape his impressions of a September trip to the Middle East, but the department says it doesn’t have a copy of the report the MP is believed to have written for the prime minister.

The latest twists in the story of Khan’s mission emerged Tuesday as foreign affairs answered a formal request for the report by saying it couldn’t find a copy.

“Please be advised that after a thorough search through our files, no records related to your request exist,” the department said in response to an application under the Access to Information Act.

Foreign affairs did, however, disclose portions of an Oct. 6 e-mail message to Khan in which bureaucrat Sam Hanson, who accompanied him on the trip, outlined themes “that seem to me to emerge from our meetings in the region.”

The substance of Hanson’s message was withheld under provisions of the access law that allow departments to refuse to disclose material dealing with international affairs and advice from officials.

The e-mail followed a telephone conversation the two had earlier in the day about their trip.

It’s unclear who in government has seen the report that Khan, a Toronto-area MP, is said to have produced upon his return from the mission.

Khan made waves last month by defecting to the Conservatives from the Liberals.

In August, he had been appointed special adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on South Asia and the Middle East.

When Khan assumed the role, he promised his findings and recommendations would be shared with MPs from all parties. However, the prime minister’s office has since said the report must remain confidential.

Khan was acting as a member of Parliament when he spent 19 days in September touring Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Lebanon at a cost of about $13,000.

He has refused to appear before a parliamentary committee to discuss his findings.