Speaking under oath to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, Chretien loyalist Warren Kinsella said this afternoon that minutes before he was to begin testifying in front of the committee, he received a phone call from someone in Prime Minister Paul Martin’s office which he said was designed to intimidate him. He subsequently suggested that, while he was finance minister in the mid-1990s, Martin and/or his staff improperly directed government contracts to firms that supported Martin politically.

If Kinsella’s suggestion holds merit, Kinsella is essentially saying that Martin misled  the House of Commons last week.

This is nasty Liberals-vs.-Liberal stuff that could be a bigger headache for the current Liberal government than the Gomery Commission. We’re working on putting this all in context for tonight’s newscast.