RCMP drop probe of PM’s former aide
Mounties tell Wright he won’t face charges over $90K cheque he gave Duffy to cover expenses
OTTAWA— Nigel Wright is not breaking his silence, yet. But that day may still come. Wright, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was advised by Mounties Tuesday he will not face criminal charges for his role in paying $90,000 last March to Sen. Mike Duffy to cover what the government deemed to be “inappropriate” expenses.
The RCMP’s Cpl. Lucy Shorey said investigators concluded that “the evidence gathered does not support criminal charges against Mr. Wright.”
However, the decision not to charge Wright with breach of public trust, fraud or bribery — suspicions the RCMP first outlined in an affidavit signed by Cpl. Greg Horton last November — does not mean Wright will never appear in a courtroom to explain his actions or his con- versations with the prime minister at the time.
Wright may be called to testify against Duffy should criminal charges be laid against the former broadcaster named to the Senate by Harper in 2008.
Sources say Duffy remains under investigation for excessive residential and travel expense claims, and possible misuse of Senate resources in connection with a contract he gave to a former colleague and friend who told RCMP he performed “little or no work.”
A decision on whether charges will be laid in the Duffy file is expected “soon,” a source told the Star.
The RCMP has decided its investigators did not need talk to the prime minister.
The RCMP concluded “he can’t add any evidentiary value,” a source said. “If he can’t provide evidence, then why do they need to turn the spotlight on the prime minister?”
Even as the news broke, Wright stayed out of the public eye as he has since the beginning, but his lawyer Peter Mantas told the Star Wright was “relieved” by the RCMP’s decision.
Wright resigned last May after CTV reported he’d paid Duffy’s expenses out of his own pocket — a fact the PMO quickly admitted, but Harper personally denied any knowledge of.
Wright issued a short statement through Mantas that defended his actions.
“My intention was to secure the repayment of taxpayer funds. I believed that my actions were always in the public interest and lawful,” said Wright. “The outcome of the RCMP’s detailed and thorough investigation has now upheld my position.”
The biggest public mystery — what did Wright and Harper discuss on Feb. 22 when the political decision was made to force Duffy to repay money as last year’s controversy over expenses in the senate ballooned — remains.
The issue of whether Wright should have made or disclosed his payment to Duffy reverts to Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, who suspended her inquiries after the RCMP opened its investigation last June.
Dawson’s spokesperson, Margot Booth, confirmed that Dawson will now review the matter.
Duffy, too, faced a Senate ethics investigation over his acceptance and non-disclosure of the gift — a probe that Senate ethics officer Lyse Ricard suspended pending the RCMP’s inquiry.
The Mounties’ decision to drop Wright as a target was met with a measured statement by the Prime Minister’s Office that acknowledged the ongoing criminal probe, but did not mention Wright.
Harper’s communications director Jason MacDonald said: “We are pleased the RCMP has made progress in their work. The Prime Minister’s Office will continue offering every possible assistance to the RCMP’s investigation.”
Although the prime minister denied any knowledge of Wright’s decision, the paper trail showed at least a dozen prime ministerial staff members and party officials were aware, at different stages, that something was afoot. Under fire in the Commons over the Senate scandal, Harper responded by blaming Wright as responsible for what he called a “deception.” Wright co-operated with the police investigation, seeking confidentiality waivers from the PMO and turning over a binder of emails that showed his increasingly frustrated exchanges with the Ottawa-based Duffy, who had become a political embarrassment. Duffy alternately agreed and refused to repay the money, fearing he would lose eligibility for his P.E.I. Senate seat. The emails showed the Conservative Party of Canada’s chief fundraiser, Senator Irving Gerstein, was willing to cover Duffy’s costs when they were first believed to be about $32,000. But when the final tally came in at $90,000, it was too much for Gerstein to swallow, the RCMP said. Gerstein denies he’d ever agreed the party would foot the bill for inappropriate expenses. Wright, who never submitted expense claims, finally chose to cover Duffy’s costs after Duffy’s lawyer, Janice Payne, claimed the former broadcaster was broke and couldn’t repay. Tuesday, the RCMP defended the probe it launched in June 2013 into Wright “with respect to his gifting of $90,000 to Senator Mike Duffy.” “When the RCMP initiated the investigation there were sufficient grounds to pursue the matter with regards to the offences of breach of trust, bribery, frauds on the government, as well as receiving prohibited compensation contrary to the Parliament of Canada Act.” Now, 11 months later, the force’s sensitive investigations unit concluded it lacked evidence to support a prosecution.
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the news does not absolve the prime minister from answering questions about what he knew of the circumstances surrounding Duffy’s expense repayment.
“I don’t think it puts any ring around Mr. Harper who has refused to give clear answers to very simple clear questions in the House. And the few times that he has given answers, he’s contradicted himself from one day to the next.
“I think Canadians still have a right to know what went on, what the prime minister knew and when he knew it.”