Ex-staffer broke law, RCMP say
Emails reveal high-placed efforts to defuse Senate expenses scandal
O T TAWA — New RCMP documents released Wednesday lay out in detail how the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly tried to manipulate a Senate audit report on Sen. Mike Duffy’s expense claims, including bringing high-ranking senators aboard to try to alter the course of a forensic investigation.
The police records, which include dozens of pages outlining emails between the main political players and their staff, were made public as the RCMP also alleged that Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, broke the law when he agreed to repay Duffy’s questionable housing expenses.
And while Wright is quoted in the RCMP documents as saying that the prime minister was not aware of his plan to cut a $90,000 cheque from his own funds to assist Duffy, other sections of the RCMP records suggest Harper had more knowledge of Duffy’s woes than the prime minister has publicly spoken about.
The RCMP allegations, unproven in court, are part of a process whereby investigators laid out allegations of fraud, bribery and breach of trust against both Duffy and Wright.
RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton writes that between Feb. 6 and March 28, 2013, Wright “did directly or indirectly corruptly give or offer to a member of Parliament for the benefit of that person, any money, valuable consideration, or office in respect of anything done or omitted, or to be done or omitted by him in his official capacity,” contrary to the Criminal Code.
Wright issued a statement through his lawyer Wednesday saying: “My intention was always to secure repayment of funds owed to taxpayers. I acted within the scope of my duties and remain confident that my actions were lawful. I have no further comment at this time.”
The development comes as a political bombshell for the Conservative government, which has been on its heels since the scandal broke in May. Harper, who came to office in 2006 promising to clean up politics, has faced daily attacks from the opposition over the affair, which has now only deepened with the spectre that his former chief of staff could one day face criminal charges.
The RCMP court document was filed as part of a request to gain access to emails between several high-profile Conservative senators embroiled in the expense repayment controversy: former government Senate leader Marjory LeBreton, and David Tkachuk and Carolyn Stewart Olsen, the two top Tories on the committee that oversaw Duffy’s audit. The RCMP is also seeking more banking records for Duffy.
The RCMP note that Wright believed he had done nothing wrong when he decided to use personal funds to pay back $90,000 of Duffy’s irregular expenses. The documents also indicate that Duffy, for his part, believed his expense claims were legitimate and that he should not have to pay them back.
None of the allegations has been tested in court, nor have any charges been laid. The RCMP say Wright didn’t tell Harper about the “minutiae” of Duffy’s repayment, but that Harper was kept apprised of problems with Duffy’s expenses as the controversy increasingly became a political headache.
At one point in the documents, the RCMP quote from a May 14 email from Wright where he says: “The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to the expenses.” It isn’t clear what “personally assisted” means in this specific context.
The documents say the 2,600 emails the investigative team has reviewed suggest “the Prime Minister was informed by his staff that they were working on a plan to have Sen. Duffy repay expenses,” a plan contingent on Duffy not losing his Senate seat.
Horton says Harper may have been aware of the original plans to use the Conservative Fund to repay Duffy’s legal bill — a Feb. 22 email from Wright says he wanted to “speak to the PM before everything is considered final,” referencing the demands Duffy made of PMO — but the full details of what was discussed with Harper are not contained in the emails.
In the House of Commons Wednesday, Harper pointed to the RCMP document as proof he was not apprised of the Duffy-Wright personal payment deal. “It is in black and white that I did not know. The RCMP confirms it,” Harper said under grilling from Opposition NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.