OTTAWA (CBC) - Elections officials found no evidence that other political parties engaged in a scheme to circumvent spending limits as the Conservatives are accused of doing in the 2006 federal election, Canada's chief electoral officer said Tuesday.

Elections Canada has alleged the Tories overspent on election ads by disguising the cost of national ads as local expenses in an "in-and-out" scheme that involved the participation of 67 candidates - including four cabinet ministers.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's party has denied any wrongdoing, and repeatedly maintained that all parties engage in the practice.

But in his appearance before a Commons ethics committee Tuesday in Ottawa, Marc Mayrand told MPs he asked Elections Canada staff to review the returns of all major political parties in the 2004 and 2006 federal elections.

The review, he said, found no evidence of other parties directing money to local candidates who would then transfer the funds back to the party to spend on more advertising for the national campaign.

"Elections Canada has not identified any other transaction or group of transactions in which all of the other factors were in play," Mayrand said.

Spending limits 'meaningless' if expense transfers allowed

During his review of electoral legislation before the committee, Mayrand said he wouldn't discuss specifics of the allegations against the Tories because of the continuing investigation.

But he said an "aggregate of factors" led him to take issue with $1.3 million in Conservative regional campaign advertising expenses in 2006. The expenses are now the subject of a federal investigation and court trial initiated by the Tories in May 2007. If they are rejected, the Tories will have exceeded the $18.3-million spending limit by more than $1 million.

"Transfers of expenses are not permitted as this would render the distinct limits of parties and candidates meaningless," Mayrand said. "It is absolutely essential to keep all those definitions and concepts as we look through various returns provided at the end of electoral campaigns."

The electoral body's investigation into the allegations of Tory overspending culminated in a raid of the party's Ottawa headquarters in April.

Along with exceeding spending limits, the Tories are accused of making "false and misleading" statements in their financial returns for the last election, according to the documents filed by Elections Canada in support of the search warrant.

The party has filed a lawsuit against Elections Canada in what it calls a dispute over the interpretation of Canada's electoral law.

Tory MP probes leak claims

During his question time, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said Mayrand had failed to provide any new information in his appearance.

Poilievre, the Tories' designated point man on in-and-out questions in the House of Commons, also grilled Mayrand on who knew about the "visit" to the party's offices ahead of time and whether someone from his office leaked the information to the Liberals and the media in advance.

Mayrand replied that he personally conducted a review into allegations and determined no further investigation was required, but Poilievre asked why rumours of a leak didn't prompt him to seek outside help.

"You've been very vigorous investigating our party," Poilievre said. "Why would you consider it appropriate to investigate yourself?"

Mayrand said he was one of three people, including his deputy and his director of communications, aside from the elections commissioner's office and office of the director of public prosecutions who knew about the raid.

The raid featured elections officials removing files and computers from the Tories' Ottawa offices under a search warrant executed by the RCMP at the request of elections commissioner William Corbett.

Corbett, who enforces the Canada Elections Act, launched an investigation in April 2007 after Mayrand challenged Tory spending claims in the 2006 election.

The prime minister has said his party has been unfairly targeted by Elections Canada and insisted the Tories have never refused to provide any documentation requested by the agency.

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