Mar fundraiser now focus of independent review

An independent review will be held into a fundraiser held by former Tory leadership candidate Gary Mar.

Premier Alison Redford suspended Mar from his job as the province's Asian envoy and asked the ethics commissioner to investigate an event he held to pay off his debt accrued during his failed bid for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party.

The event at the Edmonton Petroleum Club on Mar. 1 was to go towards the $262,000 in debts.

CBC News learned one version of the invitation for the event referred to Mar's government position and implied that ticket-holders would learn how to do business in Hong Kong.

However the premier's office said Tuesday that Mar doesn't fall under the ethics commissioner's jurisdiction because he's a government official and not a politician.

An independent review will be held instead, a spokesperson said.