DHALIWAL MET DRUG DEALER A FEW TIMES BUT "WOULD NOT CALL HIM A FRIEND"

Federal Election 2008: Liberal MP tells the Now that he knew about
Cheema's shady past when he wrote letter of support to U.S. judge

Everyone deserves a second chance - even drug dealers, says a Surrey
MP who has become embroiled in controversy just days after the federal
election call.

Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the riding of Newton-North
Delta, has written a letter to an American judge on House of Commons
stationary in support of Ranjit Cheema, a convicted international drug
trafficker.

Cheema was sentenced in California this week to five years in prison
after pleading guilty to conspiring to smuggle 200 kilograms of heroin
from Pakistan to North America in 1998. According to a report in the
Vancouver Sun, the drugs were supposed to be exchanged for cocaine
from a Columbian cartel in a deal that was intercepted by the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency.

In an interview with the Now, Dhaliwal admitted he knew about Cheema's
shady activities when he agreed to write the letter to Judge Stephen
V. Wilson, dated July 9, 2008. Dhaliwal said he wrote the letter at
the request of Cheema and his father. He refused to answer questions
about whether his decision to write the letter reveals a lack of
judgment and insisted that he was motivated by a desire to help
rehabilitate Cheema.

In referring to the sentence, Dhaliwal said Cheema "got what he
deserves."

But he noted that Cheema will eventually return to Canada to his
family when he completes his sentence and needs support to ensure that
he will become a "productive member of society" and not slip back into
a life of crime.

"The community is vital to this process and that's why I wrote the
letter," Dhaliwal said.

Dhaliwal said he met Cheema a few times at various "community events"
but doesn't socialize with him. "I would not call him a friend," he
said.

He also sidestepped questions about whether the controversy will hurt
the Liberal party and his re-election chances.