Originally published at the NAAIJ on July 18th, 2014
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The RCMP today laid 31 charges against Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, An appointee of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The charges laid are as follows, quoted from the RCMP Press Release[1]
“Expense claims in relation to his residency – Mr. Duffy has been charged with one (1) count each of fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust. The total amount of the fraud in this instance is $90,000.
Expense claims unrelated to Senate business – Mr. Duffy has been charged with five (5) counts of fraud under $5,000, four (4) counts of fraud over $5,000 and nine (9) counts of breach of trust. The total amount of the frauds exceeds $50,000.
Awarding of consulting contracts – Mr. Duffy has been charged with two (2) counts of fraud over $5,000, two (2) counts of fraud under $5,000, and four (4) counts of breach of trust. The total amount of the frauds exceeds $60,000.
Directly or indirectly corruptly accept, obtain, agree to accept, or attempt to obtain, for himself, money ($90,000 from Mr. Nigel Wright) – Mr. Duffy has been charged with one (1) count each of bribery of a judicial officer, frauds on the Government and breach of trust.
Mr. Duffy will appear in court in Ottawa on September 16, 2014.”[1]
According to The Star[2], There is a reasonable possibility to expect that Prime Minister Harper could be called upon to testify under oath, But it is likely he will abuse ‘Parliamentary privilege’ to avoid further incriminating himself.
Back in Oct. 2013 Duffy testified that ‘After the Prime Minster decided’ that Wright was to pay Duffy $90,000. Duffy requested Wright produce written documents assuring that no wrong doing was taking place, In response Wright contacted Conservative Lawyer Arthur Hamilton and got him to pay for $13,560 in legal fees for Duffy. [3]
Nigel Wright was Chief of Staff for Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the time of this conduct. The Prime Minister himself is also implicated in several documents obtained by the RCMP in communications between Wright and Duffy.
In a functioning democracy PM Harper would be the one facing charges right now, Instead of just the witness stand.
[1] http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ottawa/ne-no/pr-cp/2014/0717-ms-cp-eng.htm
[2] http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/07/17/stephen_harper_in_the_witness_box_now_a_possibility_tim_harper.html
[3] http://bcove.me/ttjkzxrq
Nigel Todman is an Independent Journalist, Technical Consultant, Social Activist, Web Developer and Computer Programmer from Ontario, Canada. Nigel is also the Assistant Webmaster for the NAAIJ. Add him to Facebook and/or Follow him on Twitter E-mail: nigel [at] naaij [dot] org [PGP]