Former Harper Aide Bruce Carson charged with influence peddling

Bruce Carson, a former senior aide to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has officially been charged with influence peddling by the RCMP.

In a statement released Friday morning, the "A" Division Commercial Crime Section of the RCMP said that Carson, 66, had been charged with one count of fraud on the government.

According to the Globe and Mail, Carson is accused of lobbying the office of Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan on behalf of his fiancée, a former escort who was trying to sell water-purification systems to first nations communities.

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There are also allegations that he improperly lobbied the Natural Resources department on behalf of the Canada School of Energy and the Environment for $25-million in federal funding. The school had been created with a $15-million federal grant.

Carson served as Harper's chief policy analyst from 2006 to 2008 and returned to the prime minister's office briefly in 2009. Federal law prohibits former political staffers from lobbying government for five years after leaving office, and Carson was never registered as a lobbyist.

In an email to Yahoo! Canada News, Friday, the PMO tried to put distance between the prime minister and Carson.

"Immediately after being informed of these allegations last year, our government referred the matter to the RCMP Commissioner, the Ethics Commissioner and the Lobbying Commissioner," Harper communications director Andrew MacDougall wrote.

"Any individual who doesn't respect our laws must face their full force as well as the consequences that come with them."

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This isn't Carson's first brush with the law.

Last April there were revelations that Carson had an extensive criminal record prior to joining the PMO. According to reports, Carson was convicted of five counts of fraud in the many years ago and, in 1990, was ordered to receive psychiatric treatment.

Carson is scheduled to appear in Ottawa court for his latest charges on Sept. 10, 2012.