EDMONTON — The Alberta government says a special out-of-province prosecutor will assist in a criminal fraud investigation into the United Conservative Party leadership race won by Jason Kenney before he became premier.
Eric Tolppanen, head of the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, says an agreement is in place to get help from an Ontario prosecutor.
The prosecutor’s name has not been released.
The Crown announced in May that it was seeking an out-of-province prosecutor.
Tolppanen says the agreement with the Ontario lawyer was struck immediately afterward.
The Opposition NDP, which initially pushed for a special prosecutor, has in recent days been demanding that Kenney’s government confirm whether someone had been hired.
Tolppanen stresses that the decision was made independent of elected officials.
The RCMP has been investigating whether voter identity fraud was committed in the 2017 UCP leadership race, which Kenny won handily.