The National Assembly's ethics commissioner is investigating cabinet minister Sam Hamad.
Emails made public by Radio Canada's investigative journalism show 'Enquete' suggest that Hamad, the current president of the Treasury Board and former Labour and Transportation Minister, received fund-raising help from Marc-Yvan Côté, a former Liberal cabinet minister charged two weeks ago with fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust.
The emails also suggest Hamad gave sensitive cabinet information to an environmental technology company where Côté worked that was seeking financial support from Quebec's investment arm.
Hamad is denying he did anything wrong and is asking for clarity.
The messages show executives with the firm Premier Tech, where Côté was a vice-president, discussed "their friend Sam," and calls he made on the company's behalf to the Economic Development Minister and the president of Investissement Quebec.
Hamad never wrote any of the emails in question.
Hamad said after the report that the emails were misinterpreted, and that he never tried to intervene in any project involving Côté and the firm.
In 2010 Premier Tech was lobbying for assistance from the provincial government in buying one of its competitors.
He said he is and he will continue cooperating with the ethics committee.
The Parti Quebecois and the CAQ are calling for him to resign, and also want UPAC to investigate.
