Harb housing issues surprise top Liberal

Ottawa senator never brought problems to his attention, Senate House leader says

The top Liberal in the Senate says he was never made aware of concerns over Sen. Mac Harb’s housing expense claims, and is surprised at RCMP claims that Harb was claiming as his primary residence a home that was “uninhabitable.”

“Sen. Harb didn’t come to me and say, ‘I have a problem, what do you think of this?’” Sen. James Cowan said Friday. Cowan, the Liberal House leader in the Senate, said he has repeatedly told his caucus to ensure their expenses were in order over the years, but did not pull individual senators aside to pore through their documents.

Cowan’s remarks came after sweeping RCMP allegations against Harb that were made public this week. Senators who live more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill are entitled to a $22,000 annual allowance for a secondary home in the capital. A Senate committee had ordered Harb to repay $51,000 in claims from 2011 and 2012, which he did, under protest.

But RCMP investigators allege a wider scheme involving Harb that they say spans a decade. Their allegations are outlined in an application for a court order that compels the Senate to hand over Harb’s expense and travel documents. Among the RCMP allegations are that Harb sold 99.99 per cent of a home he claimed as his primary residence for four years to a former foreign ambassador to Canada, while listing his Ottawa condo as his address on insurance documents.

The RCMP documents, written by lead investigator Cpl. Greg Horton, also raise questions about a central component of Harb’s defence of his claims: that the clerk of the Senate OK’d his housing situation. None of the allegations have been proven in court. A request for comment from Harb’s lawyer, Simon Ruel, was not returned Friday.

In an affidavit Harb filed with the Ontario Superior Court as part of his action against the Senate, Harb argued that a former clerk of the Senate approved his Cobden home as a primary residence. “I consulted with the Clerk of the Senate, Paul Belisle, whether I was allowed to declare my new home as my primary residence, given that it was a new home and that I had previously resided in Ottawa,” Harb wrote in the sworn statement. “The Clerk of the Senate informed me that pursuant to Senate guidelines, I could designate my new home as my primary residence, as it was more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill.”

But the RCMP disputed that claim in the document filed Thursday. Horton wrote: “During subsequent inquiries with Mr. Belisle by investigators on my team, Mr. Belisle stated that he has no recollection of such a conversation, and would refer senators to Senate legal counsel for such questions. It was not in his purview to provide such direction.”

Then-prime minister Jean Chrétien appointed Harb, a longtime Ottawa MP and city councillor, to the Senate in September 2003. Three months later, Harb purchased a home in Cobden, about 120 kilometres from Parliament Hill.

According to the court document, the RCMP alleges it was “uninhabitable” until at least 2006 because a well on site couldn’t support a family. As well, the RCMP alleges, the home was being completely renovated with an addition.

Horton also writes that Harb never noted that he had “sold the Cobden house to Magdeline (sic) Teo in 2007, maintaining only .01% ownership of the residence, while still claiming it as his primary residence for almost 4 more years.” Magdalene Teo is a former Brunei ambassador to Canada. By November 2007 she was no longer ambassador and, according to the court document, was listed as an absentee homeowner on the insurance policy for the home. The transfer of the Cobden home to Teo took place on Oct. 12, 2007 — the same day Harb was granted a mortgage, the document says. Harb was granted a mortgage of $177,000, hours before he sold the property to Teo for $567,000. Horton wrote that the mortgage was discharged in 2011, according to the document.

In November 2007, an inspector for Lanark Mutual Insurance went to the home on Durack Line Road in Cobden and noted that it didn’t have much furniture and that Harb was only there three or four days a week. “House needs a good cleaning. A lot of bird sh– in the basement. A lot of mouse traps have been set. Mac said the bird problem has been fixed, still working on the mice … Should this be a premium?” read the inspector’s notes, quoted in the court document. “House is not fully complete. Not lived in full-time. Don’t raise coverage anymore.”

Teo is now the Brunei ambassador to China. Questions sent to Teo Thursday night were not responded to by Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, in 2011, Harb bought a home in Westmeath, about 130 kilometres from Parliament Hill and in June 2011 declared it as his primary residence to the Senate. RCMP investigators don’t believe Harb spent enough time there for the home to be considered a primary residence.

The RCMP are also pursuing Sen. Mike Duffy for breach of trust. Sen. Patrick Brazeau is also under similar investigation. Duffy is also being pursued for frauds on the government, according to RCMP documents, for a secret $90,000 payment Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, gave Duffy to cover the repayment of his improper housing claims.

No one has been charged in these probes.