More senators could face probe over expenses
Up to 10 members of red chamber singled out through review: sources
OTTAWA — A handful of senators whose expenses have raised serious concerns from the federal auditor general face the possibility of an RCMP probe of their spending, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.
Senate sources said Monday that between five and 10 senators who were subject to auditor general Michael Ferguson’s sweeping review of Senate spending appear to have problematic patterns in their expense claims.
The final number in this position isn’t yet clear; the sources were not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the red chamber.
The problem expense claims have previously been pegged by sources at being worth more than $100,000 in some cases, with housing and travel claims at the root of problems the auditors uncovered in looking at expenses filed between 2011 and 2013.
Sources say a few of these senators are no longer in the upper chamber, having retired since the start of the audit.
Even 10 senators being referred to the RCMP would be politically problematic to the upper chamber, which will receive Ferguson’s final report in early June.
Dozens more senators have been told there are problems with a number of their expense claims, including trips that contained no evidence they were for parliamentary business, or erroneous claims that go beyond administrative snafus.
These problems are not enough for the RCMP to be called in, but the Senate will have to decide whether to punish these senators should there be a pattern of bad behaviour.
It was a pattern of problematic expense claims that led the Senate to suspend Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau without pay in November 2013. Duffy is now on trial on 31 criminal charges stemming from his expense claims, while Brazeau and former Liberal senator Mac Harb are fighting one charge each of fraud and breach of trust.
Those cases led the upper chamber to ask Ferguson in the summer of 2013 to go through every corner of Senate spending.
The nearly two-year long audit has been more detailed than many senators had expected, with members asked to account for everything from the postage used to send Christmas cards or parcels, to calls made on their Senate cellphone. Some were even asked to provide proof, such as photos, that they were at an event they claimed to have attended.
The final audit letters detailing the findings for all 117 senators subject to Ferguson’s review were sent to senators starting April 23. These letters followed 40 sent in February, which the sources suggest were targeted at those who had thousands of dollars in questioned expense claims.
The Ottawa Citizen previously reported that RCMP investigators had discussed the possibility that, when Ferguson is finished his probe, they may be asked to review the spending of two dozen or more senators.