The RCMP considered charging Justin Trudeau with fraud after his trip to the Aga Khan’s Bahamas island, but decided against because it seems Trudeau had the authority to approve the trip himself.
RCMP documents from 2019 reveal they looked at whether they could charge Trudeau based on the findings in a report from the federal ethics commissioner, which concluded that Mr. Trudeau had violated four sections of the Conflict of Interest Act. Investigators believed there were “reasonable grounds” to think fraud may have been committed, but a lack of clarity in federal rules that apply to accepting gifts stood in the way. The relevant section of the Criminal Code has a provision which allows officials to accept benefits if they have written consent from the head of their branch of government.
However, Trudeau in the House of Commons said that, no, he was not given permission to take the trip. The RCMP just never asked. So, according to his own answers and the RCMP flowchart, Trudeau should be charged with fraud.
New evidence came out that the RCMP considered charging Prime Minister Trudeau over the free trip to the Aga Khan’s Island. Even though it was a conflict of interest and proven fraud, the RCMP thought it would ‘look bad’.