ALLEGEDLY FRAUDULENT CLAIMS

The RCMP allege suspended senator Pamela Wallin committed fraud and breach of trust by charging the Senate and taxpayers for travel that was related to her personal affairs, including sitting on corporate boards. RCMP investigators received 246 travel expense claims from the Senate. Of those, the RCMP identified 150 requiring further investigation. Here’s a look at some of the expense claims the RCMP are alleging were fraudulent: July 2012 Wallin charged the Senate for round-trip flights between Saskatoon and Toronto, as well as ground transportation and accommodation. Wallin told auditors she was supposed to have been the keynote speaker for the Arts and Letters Club, but the event was cancelled. The RCMP say club officials had no records of Wallin having been invited as a speaker. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $2,216.03 April 2009 Wallin expensed flights between Toronto, Saskatoon, Regina, Ottawa and Kingston during the month, as well as ground transportation and accommodations. The RCMP allege Wallin was actually in Toronto for personal activities, including possibly attending a CTV board meeting. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $2,445.08 July 2010 Wallin charged the Senate for a flight from Ottawa to Toronto and then on to Calgary. She told auditors she stopped in Toronto to meet Mark Massad, chief financial officer of Skylink Aviation, “to discuss the Afghan mission and potential military needs.” The RCMP say Massad told them it would have been impossible to meet Wallin as he had resigned from Skylink three months earlier and left Toronto. The RCMP allege Wallin was actually in Toronto for personal activities, including possibly attending a CTV board meeting. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $699.78 March 2011 Wallin charged the Senate for flights between Ottawa and Toronto. Wallin told auditors she “participated in a taped interview with Business News Network” on March 31. The RCMP say neither they nor Bell Media, which owns BNN, have been able to locate such an interview. The RCMP allege Wallin travelled to Toronto for a chiropractor appointment, and may have attended a CTV board meeting and dinner. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $1,539.41 May 2011 Wallin expensed the Senate for accommodation in Iqaluit, a limousine between Trenton, Ont., and Toronto, and flights between Ottawa and Toronto. The RCMP allege that rather than stay in Ottawa after a Canadian military-sponsored trip to Canadian Forces Station Alert in Nunavut, Wallin flew to Trenton and took a limousine to Toronto. The RCMP allege Wallin went to Toronto for personal activities. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $1,164.23 February 2009 Wallin charged the Senate for flights between Ottawa, Toronto and Saskatoon, as well as ground transportation, accommodation and meals. Wallin’s electronic calendar said that while she was in Toronto on Feb. 16, she attended a dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse that was hosted by Skylink Aviation and held in honour of Afghanistan’s transportation minister. The minister, Omar Zakhilwal, told the RCMP his last visit to Toronto was in 2004 and he did not know, and had never been hosted by, Skylink Aviation. The RCMP allege Wallin was in the area for personal activities. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $428.45 September 2009 Wallin charged the Senate for flights between Regina, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, as well as ground transportation, accommodation and meals. Wallin told auditors she had lunch with Jennifer Sloan, executive vice-president of mining firm Vale Inco, on Sept. 9 to discuss mining, foreign ownership and the CanadaU.S. border. The RCMP say Sloan actually left her position at Vale Inco five months earlier. Amount the RCMP allege Wallin fraudulently claimed: $2,395.55