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Criminal case against Sen. Mike Duffy by RCMP







A few questions have been raised regarding the new information released in the documents that have been filed about Senator Mike Duffy by the RCMP. They include how Duffy handled the issue of his residency from the moment he was appointed to the senate to the information the Prime Minister’s office had regarding a $90,000 bank draft meant to repay his inappropriately claimed expenses.

The allegations contained in the court documents have not been proved in court.

According to the revelations by the documents, there are more than one allegations by the RCMP against Duffy; three to be precise. As a result of Duffy saying his primary residence was in P.E.I, there is the allegation for expenses possibly claimed fraudulently for Ottawa housing and per diem costs. As a result of his vacation in Florida and his campaigns in the last federal election for the Conservative Party there are allegations for possible fraudulent per diem claims that were submitted at that time. The third allegation is accepting a payment fraudulently from the prime minister’s top aide, Nigel Wright and in return he would benefit in a deal that would enable him to pay back his claimed expenses that were inappropriate quickly and without any protest with promises that a Senate report would not be hard on him but rather go easy on him.

Investigation on Duffy by the RCMP began in March, two months prior to a Deloitte audit of Duffy’s residency being made public and before a vote to refer Duffy’s expenses to the RCMP by a Senate committee .The amid opposition party made demands for an investigation.

According to revelations in the documents, Duffy has lived in Ottawa since 1971 as opposed to what he had claimed his primary residence was; P.E.I.  However, on Dec 22, 2008, the day an announcement was made of his selection for appointment to the Senate, he applied for a P.E.I. driver’s license.

In a few occasions while applying for passport, Duffy gave Ottawa address as his permanent residence. This was in 2007 and 2012.

According to revelations from the documents, initially the Conservative Party believed Duffy owed an amount of $32,000 which the party was willing to pay. This is the same amount Deloitte report calculated as $ 34,000 which Duffy had made claims in housing costs in Ottawa and per diems during Deloitte’s examination period of 18 months. The chair of the Senate committee on internal economy at the time, Senator David Tkachuk on Feb. 27 wrote Duffy telling him the actual amount he owed was $90,172.It’s not clear why the party was not aware of this.

According to a statement made to the RCMP by Nigel Wright’s lawyer, former chief of staff for the prime minister, Wright was not aware of any fraudulent claims on Duffy when he was giving him $90,000. But when Deloitte was making its report, Wright was in contact with Senator Tkachuk and the discoveries of Duffy claiming of per diems for being on Senate business while on a Florida vacation were made by Deloitte.

The fact that Senator Irving Gerstein, the chair of the Conservative Fund thought it would be appropriate for the party to incur Duffy’s cost of $32,000 instead of $90,000 is not clear.

As opposed to what the documents revealed, Wright had given a statement when resigning saying that the decision to give Duffy money was his and he accepted sole responsibility. According to the document, a statement by Wright’s lawyer to the RCMP stated that the $90,000 cheque was known to three senior people in the Prime Minister’s Office and so did Gerstein.


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