Costs soar at Arar inquiry

[struggle4progress]

Friday, February 25, 2005

Ottawa — The cost to Canadian taxpayers of sorting out the Maher Arar affair has soared to over $23-million, government figures show.

Spending estimates tabled Friday in the Commons show an operating budget of $8.7-million was set aside in fiscal 2004-05 for the public inquiry headed by Justice Dennis O'Connor.

Francois Jubinville, a spokesman for the Privy Council Office, said an additional $3.7-million has been budgeted for the new fiscal year that starts April 1, bringing the inquiry's operating funds to $12.4-million.

Judge O'Connor is looking into the role played by Canadian officials in Mr. Arar's detention in the United States and subsequent deportation to Syria, where he says he was tortured into false confessions of links to al-Qaeda. <snip>

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