Harper dodges, but Tory senators support Liberal bid to study audit meddling
OTTAWA (CP) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper dodged questions Friday about alleged attempts by his people — including the party’s top bagman — to meddle in and even quash an independent audit of Sen. Mike Duffy’s contested expenses.
But Harper’s own Conservative senators appear to want to lend the issue more scrutiny. RCMP files made public this week included emails from Harper’s staff and interviews from key players describing how they sought to cut short the work of auditing firm Deloitte in order to avoid any damning statements on Duffy.
Members of Harper’s staff appeared to receive inside information about the audit even before senators who sit on the committee that was studying Duffy’s expenses.
Duffy and Nigel Wright, Harper’s former chief of staff, face police allegations of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. No charges have been laid. At an in-camera meeting Thursday, sources say Liberal Sen. George Furey put forward a motion to summon Deloitte’s auditors before a meeting next week of the internal economy committee. All Conservatives present — including Harper’s former Senate leader, Marjory LeBreton — voted in favour of the motion.
Other Conservative senators have said publicly they’re disturbed to learn of the extent to which the Prime Minister’s Office was meddling in Senate affairs.
When asked Friday what the apparent efforts to influence an independent audit say about the culture in the PMO, Harper avoided the issue.
“There are two individuals who are responsible and who are under investigation,” Harper told a news conference in Winnipeg.
“As we said from the outset, they are Mr. Duffy and Mr. Wright, and we will do everything to make sure the investigation proceeds and those who acted improperly are held accountable.”
The RCMP documents detail an agreement between Duffy and the PMO to have him repay the disallowed expenses and acknowledge the repayment publicly. In exchange, he would be reimbursed, and an audit into those expenses would not pass judgment on whether his primary residence was in P.E.I. or in Ottawa.