OneBC has released the full audio of a former staffer offering to make the lawsuits against party leader Dallas Brodie disappear — if OneBC pulls candidates from key ridings so the BC Conservatives don't get split on the right.
The man on the tape is Othman Mekhloufi, the same staffer fired from OneBC last December over the posts that blew up the party. In the recording, he is speaking to OneBC's communications director.
Mekhloufi says he will personally drop his defamation case, apologize and retract whatever Brodie wants. He also says Tim Thielmann will drop his wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against her. In return, OneBC would stand down in a couple of tight ridings — he mentions Penticton-Summerland — so the NDP doesn't sneak through.
Throughout the conversation, Mekhloufi keeps saying "we," "us" and "our." When he is asked directly whether he is working for the Conservatives, he gets cagey.
"It would not be of benefit for you to know whether I do or don't."
Mekhloufi sits at the center of December's split, the defamation suit Brodie filed against him, and Thielmann's suit against her. None of those claims have been proven in court.
Mekhloufi has described it as a personal conversation and played down any ties to the Conservatives.
OneBC says it released the recording only after giving the Conservatives a chance to explain. The BC Conservatives have said there is no deal and there won't be one.
British Columbians vote on October 24. That's the tape. Listen and decide what it actually means.
Never miss a story.
Join our Telegram channel and get every article link the second it's published.
Join Telegram Channel