CANADA
Straight
by CHARLIE SMITH on MAR 2, 2014
THE FORMER CEO of the Vancouver Olympics has claimed in several media interviews that journalist and author Laura Robinson went to the RCMP with allegations that he had sexually abused a former student.
But in a statement of defence filed in B.C. Supreme Court, John Furlong revealed that this wasn’t because of any “actual knowledge”.
Furlong’s statement is in response to Robinson’s notice of civil claim alleging defamation.
In it, he declares that he “believes that the plaintiff brought Beverly Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP based on his diligent review of the information available to him and the information provided to him by the RCMP”.
“The defendant Furlong has no direct or actual knowledge of whether the plaintiff initiated a complaint with or otherwise reported Ms. Abraham’s allegations to the RCMP,” the document adds.
Furlong has sued Robinson in connection with an article in the Georgia Straight in September 2012, in which she reported that he had been a teacher at a Burns Lake Catholic elementary school in 1969 and 1970.
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