Liberal candidate Andrew Harvey’s fraud charges dropped

Criminal charges against Carleton-Victoria Liberal candidate Andrew Harvey have been dropped and his suspension from the party caucus has been lifted.

Harvey had been charged with two counts of fraud, along with two other members of his family and three of their companies.

Harvey had questioned the timing of the accusations and maintained the charges against him were "baseless."

The charges against all three accused and their three companies have now been withdrawn, Woodstock provincial court officials confirmed on Friday.

Harvey had been suspended from the caucus by Liberal Leader Brian Gallant last week after news of the charges broke.

At the time, Gallant said he was "very disappointed" the charges against Harvey had not been disclosed to him or to the campaign team.

On Friday, Liberal party members prevented media from speaking to Gallant about the charges being dropped, but officials did confirm Harvey's suspension from the party caucus is no longer in effect.

Roger Melanson, the Liberal candidate for Dieppe, is now calling for an apology from Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward.

In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, he called the timing of the charges "suspicious" and "very troubling."

After a three-year investigation, charges were filed against Harvey — just weeks before the election, despite Harvey being a nominated candidate, said Melanson.

"The fact that this was leaked to the media just hours after the deadline for candidate nominations closed is concerning as well," the statement said.

The charges were dropped after a review by an independent prosecutor, according to Melanson, although officials at the Attorney General's office could not be reached to comment on how the charges came to be laid, or withdrawn.

"David Alward took a page from Stephen Harper's book by going on the attack when charges had not been proved. Now that the Crown has withdrawn these baseless charges, I certainly hope Mr. Alward will apologize," Melanson said.

ACOA loan default questions remain

But during an impromptu scrum on his election campaign bus on Friday, Alward told reporters he would "absolutely not" reconsider earlier statements made by him and his party about Harvey and the validity of the Liberal background check process.

"There are still serious questions that are hanging over Mr. Harvey and others over defaulted ACOA loans," said Alward, referring to an unrelated matter.

Harvey is listed as the director of three companies that defaulted on a loan from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, according to court documents.

ACOA had agreed to offer Harvey Lumber Ltd., Aberdeen Farms Ltd. and Shikatehawk Maple Products Ltd. “non-repayable contributions” totalling $225,000 in 2005, the documents state.

As of last week, no repayments had been made, despite two court judgments requiring repayment, ACOA officials had said.

On Sept. 3, it was revealed that Harvey was named along with his father B. Fred Harvey, who is a former Liberal MLA, and his brother David Frederick Harvey in court documents that were filed on July 29 in Woodstock provincial court.

The documents said that between May 1, 2011 and Dec. 31, 2011, the three individuals "did by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, defraud the province of New Brunswick of money, in excess of $5,000."

The second count related to trying to have two individuals to "deal with or act on documents" that were believed to be forged.

Harvey is the owner and operator of Harvey Farm and Forest Ltd. He is also a village councillor in Bristol.