Canada PoliticsPM’s chief of staff wrote personal cheque to repay Mike Duffy’s Senate expenses
Politics, they say, is about perception.
Well, this doesn't look good for the Harper government.
The Globe and Mail is reporting that Nigel Wright, the prime minister's chief of staff, "personally funded Senator Mike Duffy’s repayment of more than $90,000 in improperly-claimed living expenses."
"The government believes that taxpayers should not be on the hook for improper expense claims made by Senators," Andrew MacDougall, director of communications for Prime Minister Harper said in an email, according to the newspaper.
"Mr. Duffy agreed to repay the expenses because it was the right thing to do. However, Mr. Duffy was unable to make a timely repayment.
"Mr. Wright therefore wrote a cheque from his personal account for the full amount owing so that Mr. Duffy could repay the outstanding amount."
The money is gift, according to the PMO, by Wright who was a high power executive on Bay Street before joining the prime minister's team in 2010.
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The admission of involvement comes just a day after CTV News reported that Duffy made a deal with Wright for the money and for a promise from the government "to go easy on him."
At one point, Duffy expected the PMO to cover all of the money he’d improperly claimed – more than $90,000.
In a Feb. 20 email, Duffy said Wright worked out a “scenario” where all of his claimed living expenses would be covered, including “cash for the repayment.”
Not surprisingly, the NDP were quick to attack and called for an independent investigation into the money transfer.
"On top of the original expense scandal, we now have allegations of unethical behaviour and cover-ups inside the Prime Minister’s Office—reaching right up to Stephen Harper’s chief of staff," NDP ethic critic Charlie Angus said in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon.
"We have the abuse of taxpayers’ dollars, the leaking of a confidential audit report and allegations of a ‘cash-for-repayment’ scheme quarterbacked right out of the PMO.
"This is a very serious charge against Stephen Harper’s right-hand man. The prime minister cannot bury his head in the sand hoping it will go away."
Gregory Thomas of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that if the money was a loan, Duffy should pay it back immediately. If it was a gift, he says, then Duffy broke the Senate ethic rules.
He also warns that Duffy's scandal might just be the tip of the iceberg.
"The facts are that MPs and Senators created this mess themselves because they put themselves above the laws, they release themselves from the Access to Information Act," he told Yahoo! Canada News.
"They refuse to put their expense documentation online. If they just followed the same rules everyone else does in government then we had heard this story years ago and Mike Duffy wouldn't have had the opportunity to dig himself $90,000 into the whole.
"I believe there are a whole [bunch] of other scandals that haven't come to light because all the documentation isn't made available."
You would think that Harper's inner-circle would be wise enough to distance itself from what's going on in the Senate right now.
The public anger towards the members of the upper chamber, in light of the recent scandals, is palpable. Duffy, along with Senators Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are accused of falsely claiming the $22,000 a year in housing allowance. A fourth senator, Pamela Wallin, is still being audited for her travel expenses.
[ Related: Senators ordered to repay housing and mileage expenses ]
So it was perplexing to some to see the Tories publicly praise Senator Mike Duffy last week in Parliament.
A $90,000 personal cheque from the prime minister's right-hand man is even more peculiar and potentially more politically damaging.
(Photo courtesy The Canadian Press)
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