OTTAWA - The Commissioner of Lobbying has suddenly gone from low-profile watchdog to one of the most popular people on Parliament Hill.

Karen Shepherd's office has been deluged with queries, letters and files related to alleged unregistered lobbying by former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer -- the latest from Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice told the Commons on Friday that he recently learned Jaffer met with his director of regional affairs last April in his Calgary office. Jaffer was representing a company, Prentice said.

"On my instructions, (the staff member) has forwarded the details of those discussions and the documents relating to them, to the Commissioner of Lobbying," Prentice said.

Also on Friday, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote sent a letter to Shepherd asking her to looking into possible violations of the Lobbying Act by Jaffer's business partner Patrick Glemaud. Those relate to communications he had with the offices of Gary Goodyear, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario.

Goodyear himself has also referred concerns about those communications to Shepherd.

Neither Goodyear nor Prentice would release details or documents relating to those meetings, despite the fact their cabinet colleague John Baird widely circulated related records this week.

There's also a previous request from the Liberals to Shepherd's office to look into the Jaffer-Glemaud firm Green Power Generation (GPG) and any possible engagement in lobbying activities.

Through all these allegations, Jaffer and Glemaud have vigorously denied they engaged in any unregistered lobbying -- that simply wasn't the kind of business in which Green Power Generation was involved, they said.

Paperwork they submitted to the federal government consisted of "executive summaries" or "letters of interest" regarding different renewable-energy projects they were considering investing in.

Jaffer told The Canadian Press on Friday they didn't find it useful to comment on allegations as they surfaced, pending Shepherd's investigation.

"We maintain that GPG and its directors have not received any money from any grant, contribution, or other financial benefit, by, or on behalf of, the Government of Canada and that we have not received any compensation or payments, on behalf of any person, or organization, to undertake lobbying activities," Jaffer said in an email.

One of the companies that found itself embroiled in the controversy, Green Tech Systems, spoke up Friday to agree that there was never any financial arrangement with the Jaffer-Glemaud firm.

Jim Wright said that while there was some discussion with Green Power Generation about possible sources of government funding, there was never any agreement with regard to lobbying and their talks quickly ran dry.

He wasn't even aware that Glemaud had sent a description of his waste-management project, the BioDryer, to the offices of the parliamentary secretary to Infrastructure Minister John Baird.

The BioDryer project has also involved allegations of conflict of interested by Jaffer's wife, former cabinet minister Helena Guergis.

Guergis had written on behalf of the project to a local politician in her riding, the same week last September that Glemaud had submitted an inquiry with the federal government.

Both she and Jaffer had said that Jaffer determined there was no financial interest with Wright Tech Systems before she went ahead with the letter.

Wright backed Guergis in his statement on Friday, saying she was only doing her job as an MP. He owns a cottage in her riding.

"It is my belief that allegations against MP Helena Guergis Simcoe-Grey as to impropriety or conflict of interest are misguided as regards this matter," said Wright.

Guergis is also the subject of allegations related to offshore accounts and tax evasion, brought to the attention of the Conservatives by a private investigator.

That private investigator, Derrick Snowdy, told The Canadian Press this week that he had submitted all relevant evidence to the RCMP earlier in the week and was told they had launched an investigation.

Snowdy had come across information about the alleged offshore accounts while looking into the business dealings of Torontonian Nazim Gillani, a contact of Jaffer's.

Gillani is to testify at the Commons government operations committee on Wednesday.

Guergis and Jaffer have steadfastly denied allegations against them, including those involving offshore accounts, as baseless and untrue.