Key part of Cadman tape not altered: Expert

This is from the Star.
Harper claimed the tape had been altered but experts find it was not. So much for the truthfulness of the prime minister. This is the man who wants you to trust him as prime minister. Of course as usual his lawyers, who should be politicians, put a favorable spin on the revelation indicating that it will help their suit against the Liberals. It probably will not help the Harper campaign against the Liberals!


Key part of Cadman tape not altered, expert says TheStar.com - Federal Election - Key part of Cadman tape not altered, expert says
Spokesperson insists findings aid PM's case
October 11, 2008 Tim NaumetzThe Canadian Press
OTTAWA–A tape recording at the centre of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's $3.5 million defamation suit against the Liberal party was not altered as the Prime Minister has claimed, a court-ordered analysis of the tape by Harper's own audio expert has found.
The key portion of the recorded interview of Harper by a B.C. journalist contains no splices, edits or alterations, says the finding by a U.S. forensic audio expert.
The findings may call into question Harper's testimony about the interview during a sworn cross-examination conducted by a Liberal party lawyer in August.
The analysis was filed in Ontario Superior Court yesterday by lawyers for the Liberal party, despite attempts by Harper's lawyer to keep the opinion out of the court file until at least next week.
Harper sued the Liberals in the midst of a raging controversy earlier this year over claims in a book by B.C. author Tom Zytaruk that the Conservatives offered the late Independent MP Chuck Cadman a $1 million life insurance policy in return for help defeating the minority Liberal government in 2005.
The Prime Minister maintains that Zytaruk doctored the tape of an interview he conducted with Harper after Cadman died.
Harper denies that he told Zytaruk he was unaware of the "details" of the insurance policy offer. He insists that he only confirmed the party had offered Cadman "financial considerations" in return for rejoining the Tories and voting against the Liberals in a Commons confidence vote.
But former FBI agent Bruce Koenig, the sound expert Harper hired to prove his allegations, submitted a report dated yesterday to Harper's lawyer, which also had to be sent to Liberal lawyer Chris Paliare.
In the report, Koenig concluded the first part of Zytaruk's interview with Harper, which contains the key portions that the Prime Minister has contested, was intact.
The second part, beginning roughly one minute and 41 seconds into the tape, was a new recording that was made over the final part of the original recording, he said. But the first crucial minute and 41 seconds had not been altered.
Kory Teneycke, a spokesperson for Harper, maintained that the findings do not undermine the Prime Minister's case – and in fact can be used to buttress Harper's claims. "This report supports our position that the tape does not represent the complete interview, and as such is favourable to our case," said Teneycke.