Mike Duffy expense claims sent to RCMP by Senate committee

The Senate committee on internal economyhas voted unanimously tosend the matter of Senator Mike Duffy's expense claims to the RCMP.

The motion Tuesdayfrom Conservative Senator Larry Smith wassuggested after the committee heard a report from the Senate clerk revealing that Duffy had a pattern of claiming living expenses in Ottawa when he was not in the capital on Senate business.

The Senate clerk,Gary O'Brien,explainedDuffy claimed 18 days last August forper diems on the grounds that he wasworking onSenate business.

Senate administration staffrefusedthe claimbecause it understood that Duffy was on vacation at his P.E.I. cottage. It appears the staff was suspicious about some of Duffy's claims even before the accounting firm Deloitte was commissionedto conduct a forensic review of his expenses.

Citing information discovered bythe auditing firm Deloitte,O'Brien, as well as Nicole Proulx, the Senate director of finances, told the committee their staffdisallowed a total of25 out of 49expense claims Duffysubmitted over a periodof time.

Some of the rejectedclaims occurred during the writ period of the May 2, 2011, general election. It's known that Duffyappeared at eventsfor various Conservative candidates across the countryduring the election. Senate rules are explicit that senators cannot claim expenses from the Senate when they are campaigning.

The Senate administration staff was able to use Deloitte's findings to determineDuffy was not in Ottawa on the disallowed days. The accounting firm tracked Duffy's whereabouts by cross-checking his claims with his Senate-issued cellphone records as well as his Senate-issue American Express Corporate credit card.

Proulx said that Duffy refused to provide information to her staff about his claims.

The Deloitte audit on Duffy, which was released on May 9, indicated that Duffy claimed expensesfor 12 days while he was on vacation in Florida. Shortly after, Duffy issued a statement saying that a temporary staffer had made a mistake in filling out forms, and that he had repaid the money.

On Tuesday the Senate clerk told the committee the Senate administration's own review shows Duffy's Florida claim was "not an isolated incident, but represents a pattern that raises concerns."

The Senate committee tasked with reviewing the controversial expense claims of Duffyopened up the meetingto the public Tuesday afternoon, ina rare gesture, as itconducted its second look at the now former Conservative's books. The meeting was televised, and packed with reporters.

Duffy didn't appear at the meeting, despite a suggestion to a reporter earlier that he would, and despite the fact that his lawyer asked the committee about the time and the place of the meeting to review the controversial $90,000 cheque he received from Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former chief of staff.

"Why wouldn't I?" Duffy replied when asked by a reporter Tuesday if he planned to show up.

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The meeting was chaired by Conservative Senator David Tkachuk. He andConservative Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen were on a three-person sub-committeewho originally voted to alter the report the Senate issued on Duffy in a way that seemed to exonerate him.

Tuesdayevening, StewartOlsenagreed onstrengthening the report "in light of recent information."

The committee said it did not know the money Duffy used to repay his expense claims was given to him by theprime minister's top aide, Wright, who has since resigned.

The committee voted unanimously on a second motionto change the wording on its May 9 report on Duffy, restoring language that had been taken out about how Senate residency rules are "clear" and "unambiguous," and reinserting a conclusion that Duffy's primary residence is in Ottawa, and not in P.E.I, as he had claimed. It also voted to include the reference to send Duffy's expense claims to the RCMP in the report.

Prime minister faced persistent questions

Meanwhile,the prime ministerfaced persistent and specific questions from Opposition Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeauin the House of Commons Tuesday for the first time since a deepening Senate expenses scandal claimed his chief of staff more than a week ago.

Harper, whoflew toSouth Americafor a series of trade missions last week afterdelivering aspeech to his caucus,did not attend question period Monday.

Evidence surfaced last week that members of the committee hadaltered their reporton Duffy, now sitting as an Independent,in thehours leading up to its tabling in the Senate on May 9,removing referencesto the rules being "very clear" and Duffy's travel patterns not being consistent with maintaining a permanent residence on P.E.I.

Separate evidence suggested that Duffy wassubmitting expense claims to the Conservative Partyfor travel andappearances he made on the party's behalf during the 2011 federal election, while at the same timefiling reports that showed he was on Senate business.

Faced with controversy over both, Senate leaders agreed on the need tosend the Senate's report on Duffy back to the committee for a second review.

'There are some days when I'm embarrassed by what some people have done. I have to be honest.' Conservative Senator Vern White

The committee's chair, Tory David Tkachuk, has been away recovering from surgery, butreturned to his duties on Tuesday. He said in a media interview last week that he did discuss Duffy's case with the Prime Minister's Office beforethe report was tabled.

Liberal senators had suggested they would try to remove Tkachuk and Stewart Olsen from the committee before its review of Duffy's expenses, since they were responsible for revising the final report on Duffy to remove critical paragraphs. But Conservatives made it clear that would not happen, and Liberal Senator George Furey, the third member of the committee that produced the Duffy report, said he was satisfied that an open meeting was enough.

Bring in the AG, Segal says

On Tuesday, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal told reporters the auditor general should be regularly reviewing senators' expenses.

"I've said from the very beginning that the auditor general should be called in not only to do a regular audit of this place, comprehensively, making its results public, but should also be called in to take a fresh look, fresh set of eyes on the various allegations, expense and other issues that have been raised in this context," Segal said.

Segal might be a voice in the wilderness in holding this view, but he said Marjory LeBreton, the government Senate leader, told a TV interviewer she would welcome the auditor general.

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However, Segal pointed out, "To be fair she doesn't have the authority to call [in the auditor general].What would have to happen is the Senate as a whole would have to invite the AG in and that would require negotiation with the two main parties... and I would hope that would be on the agenda of both leaderships of both parties going forward."

Conservative Senator Vern White, a former Ottawa chief of police, told reporters, "Thirty-one years in policing there wasn't one time when I was embarrassed as a result of behaviour of one of the people who worked with me because of what they did. There are some days when I'm embarrassed by what some people have done. I have to be honest."

Later, White put out a press release, saying he's asking theSenate ethics officerto decidewhether Liberal Senator Pana Merchant violated the Senate conflict of interest code. He pointed toa CBC reportthat saidMerchant is the beneficiary to a $1.7 million trust set up in anoffshore tax havenby her husband.

"Many in the Senate are encouraging reforms to better improve our accountability and transparency," White said, adding he hopes Merchant can provide "clarity to the issue at hand."

Wright is still in Ottawa and told a CTVjournalist who caught him during his morning run on Tuesday that he is co-operating with an investigation now underway by the federal ethics commissioner.