Ontario Conservative MP Wajid Khan has been charged with violating the Elections Canada Act.

Wajid Khan is seen here meeting with members of Toronto's Pakistani community in 2005.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Khan, who crossed the floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives in January of this year, is charged with exceeding his campaign expense limit by $30,000 and paying for some campaign expenses he wasn't allowed to personally cover.

The charges stem from the 2004 election campaign, when Khan ran as a Liberal.

His former riding president and his car dealership, Dufferin Mazda, are also charged with paying for campaign expenses they weren't supposed to cover.

"Some people treat the election financing rules [as] voluntary guidelines," said NDP MP Pat Martin, who filed a complaint last January when he heard there were questions about how Khan financed his election campaign.

"They're not. They're hard fast laws and there should be consequences. If not, it's not fair to any of us."

Khan, the MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, could not be reached for comment on Friday. He is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 8.

He attracted controversy when he was appointed as special adviser to the prime minister on the Middle East while he was still a Liberal MP.

He spent $13,000 on a trip to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan and  promised at the time that his report would be available to all political parties, saying it would be "unbiased and freestanding."

The government later said it would not release the report, saying that would make Khan a pundit, not an adviser.