Senate demands $17,000 from Mike Duffy
Committee seeks repayment after senator was acquitted of fraud by Ontario judge
OTTAWA— The Senate is demanding that Mike Duffy repay almost $17,000 in ineligible expenses for which he faced fraud and breach of trust charges and was acquitted by an Ontario judge.
According to a news release from Duffy’s office late Wednesday, the Senate’s Committee on Internal Economy wrote him June 8 to seek reimbursement of six claims for goods or services and one travel claim, which the Senate says were “non-compliant” with the Senate’s administrative rules at the time.
They include $10,000 for personal fitness consultant Mike Croskery, $300 in makeup services, and $500 to pay a volunteer in his office.
The amount also includes $8 for photos in the period from March 2009 to September 2012.
The letter also asks Duffy to reimburse $3,142 in travel expenses from when he delivered a speech in September 2012 for which the Senate says he did not disclose a $10,000 speaking fee.
The Senate’s letter to Duffy, included in materials released by the senator, notes Duffy was “discharged” at trial.
“However, new information surfaced in the public domain including the judgment as well as additional supporting documentation, which warranted an assessment of the eligibility of some expenses.”
Signed by the clerk of the Senate committee on internal economy, Nicole Proulx (a witness for the Crown at Duffy’s trial), the letter gave Duffy 10 days to respond with any observations or documents that could change the Senate’s conclusions he still owed money.
Justice Charles Vaillancourt ruled April 21 that Duffy did not break the criminal law in filing expense claims under broad Senate rules at the time.
Duffy also released his lawyer Don Bayne’s 15-page letter in response to Senate officials.
The letter denounced the Senate’s move as “a collateral attack” on the judge two months after his “complete exoneration” of the senator.
Bayne pointed out Duffy’s acquittal on all 31 charges and the fact that the senator was summarily suspended without pay for nearly two years before he was even charged.
Bayne says Duffy has already paid the equivalent of10 times the value of the amount the Senate is now seeking.
He says that he suffered a net loss of $155,867.56, tremendous stress and a blow to his reputation and health during those years.
“A very significant monetary and other penalty has, therefore, already and improperly been imposed by the Senate,” he wrote.
Bayne noted that after Vaillancourt acquitted Duffy on charges of fraud, breach of trust and taking a $90,000 bribe from Nigel Wright, former chief of staff in Stephen Harper’s office, the Crown decided it had no legal ground to appeal.
“This post-judgment, post-penalty attempt to pursue the same expense matters is a further compounding of injustice upon injustice, and should be stopped,” Bayne wrote.
Bayne reminded the Senate that the judge examined the specific claims it now seeks repayment for and found them within the rules.
He also reminded them that the judge “criticized Senate leaders for unjustly doing the bidding of the office of the then-prime minister.”
Bayne also told Senate officials that the Supreme Court of Canada has found an acquittal is effectively a declaration of innocence and where there are other proceedings on the same facts, they must be resolved in favour of the accused.
He said Vaillancourt’s findings “cannot now be challenged, attacked or contradicted.”
He slammed the Senate’s Committee on Internal Economy, where Conservative senators hold a majority, saying it has a duty to treat all senators equally.
Bayne said it has failed to do so, with none of the 30 other senators whose expenses were called into question by the federal auditor general — including Senate leaders like then-committee chair Claude Carignan, David Tkachuk and then-speaker Leo Housakos — facing similar suspension or loss of pay.
On Thursday, after Duffy’s public release of the information, Housakos and Sen. Jane Cordy, the current leaders of the internal economy committee — the Senate’s executive administrative body — replied that Duffy is being treated equally. The committee has chosen to follow the same dispute resolution process that all senators red-flagged by the auditor-general were offered.
Because Duffy’s case was before the court, it was not examined by the auditor general Michael Ferguson’s team.
But now the Senate committee says since finance officials have determined some of Duffy’s claims are ineligible, it is following the same dispute resolution process and offering Duffy the option of “choosing to have his case heard by the special arbiter, former (Supreme Court of Canada) justice Ian Binnie.”
“The documentation submitted by Senator Duffy through his lawyer meets the deadline requirement established as part of that process and will now be taken into consideration,” said the statement jointly released by Housakos, the current committee chair, and deputy chair Cordy.
Carignan’s office said he was not available for any interviews.
The Senate has referred the claims of seven other senators who did not repay a total of $527,788.54 deemed owing to outside counsel.
The largest amount owing, from Manitoba Liberal Rod Zimmer, was $176,014. The senator died two weeks ago. It’s not clear whether the Senate will pursue his estate.
A spokesman said Thursday the senate was still awaiting the outside counsel’s “recommendations on next steps” in those seven cases.
The others included Gerry St-Germain, of B.C., who was reported to still owe $67,120; Manitoba Liberal Sharon Carstairs, $7,528; Ontario Liberal Marie-P. Charette-Poulin, $125,828; New Brunswick Liberal Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, $110,051; Nova Scotia Conservative Don Oliver, $23,955.54; and Newfoundland Liberal Bill Rompkey, $17,292.