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Senior Tories told Sen. Mike Duffy he had to claim tens of thousands of dollars in living expenses in Ottawa to avoid giving critics ammunition to say he didn’t deserve to sit as a Prince Edward Island senator, Duffy testified at his criminal trial Wednesday morning.
Duffy, the former broadcaster who became a Conservative senator in 2009, is on trial on 31 counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. Several of the charges relate to claims he made for living at the house in Kanata he’d owned for years before being appointed to the Senate.
Duffy pinned his decision to make those claims on David Tkachuk, a fellow Conservative senator who was introduced as the Tories’ “guru” on everything related to the Senate’s internal business when a class of 18 new senators arrived in 2009.
According to Mike Duffy, senior Conservative Senator David Tkachuk, above, said claiming the Senate housing allowance would help silence critics of Duffy’s appointment as a Prince Edward Island senator.
“He was a senior member of the leadership of the Conservative caucus in the senate, he was deputy chair of the Senate committee on budgets and internal economy,” Duffy said, under questioning from his own lawyer, Donald Bayne. “He was the No. 2 man on the committee that ran the business of the Senate … and our guru on all things related to Senate operations.”
The longtime Ontario resident’s appointment as a P.E.I. senator was instantly challenged by political opponents, including a prominent Island legal expert, and Tkachuk told him claiming the housing allowance was important for shutting those opponents down.
“The housing allowance is to defray part of the cost of your second home. There’s no reason for you to be penalized, no parliamentarian, for having two homes,” Tkachuk said, according to Duffy’s testimony. “It’s very important that you claim all the claims and allowances. Because if you don’t, if you create any light between you and any other senator who’s on travel status while in Ottawa, but most particularly any Prince Edward Island senator, then the professor will come back and say, ‘See, he’s different, he’s not an Islander.’”
Duffy himself didn’t believe he should claim “per-diems” for meals he ate in his own home, he testified. “(Tkachuk) said you’ve got to claim them. Because not to do so could create controversy around whether you’re truly a Prince Edward Island senator … You must do this.”
Tkachuk also told him that whenever he travelled to boost the Conservative party profile, he was doing Senate work and should charge his expenses to the Senate, Duffy testified. Such claims are part of another set of charges Duffy faces.
“He said, ‘When you’re on the road, you’re doing public business. You’re meeting with local mayors, you’re meeting with councillors, you’re meeting with public officials … Whenever you’re out in the public, you’re on duty, and Senate resources are provided for that.’”
Senate rules explicitly forbid campaigning for Tories during election periods but not outside them, and Duffy was adamant he’d never billed the Senate for campaign work, except by accident.
“Having received these directions from Sen. Tkachuk, did you believe you could rely on them?” Bayne asked his client.
“Yes,” Duffy said. “He was our guru.”
Bayne also spent time Wednesday morning reviewing Duffy’s finances, attacking the idea that he had a motive to help himself to Senate money in the first place. Prosecutors, Bayne said, have created an innuendo “that you were in financial straits, and had a financial motive to try and nickel-and-dime or cheat the Senate out of money, because you were in financial straits. Sir, in the time period in question, and up to the present, have you been pressed by any creditors or been put under pressure by creditors to pay bills?”
“Never,” Duffy said.
Did he ever end up with any of the money sent to a friend in Senate contracts, which are the subject of a third set of charges?
“Not a penny,” Duffy said. “I have never broken the rules, let alone the law. I have never received a penny from anyone, ever.”
His testimony continues Wednesday afternoon.
dreevely@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
Duffy, the former broadcaster who became a Conservative senator in 2009, is on trial on 31 counts of fraud, breach of trust and bribery. Several of the charges relate to claims he made for living at the house in Kanata he’d owned for years before being appointed to the Senate.
Duffy pinned his decision to make those claims on David Tkachuk, a fellow Conservative senator who was introduced as the Tories’ “guru” on everything related to the Senate’s internal business when a class of 18 new senators arrived in 2009.
According to Mike Duffy, senior Conservative Senator David Tkachuk, above, said claiming the Senate housing allowance would help silence critics of Duffy’s appointment as a Prince Edward Island senator.
“He was a senior member of the leadership of the Conservative caucus in the senate, he was deputy chair of the Senate committee on budgets and internal economy,” Duffy said, under questioning from his own lawyer, Donald Bayne. “He was the No. 2 man on the committee that ran the business of the Senate … and our guru on all things related to Senate operations.”
The longtime Ontario resident’s appointment as a P.E.I. senator was instantly challenged by political opponents, including a prominent Island legal expert, and Tkachuk told him claiming the housing allowance was important for shutting those opponents down.
“The housing allowance is to defray part of the cost of your second home. There’s no reason for you to be penalized, no parliamentarian, for having two homes,” Tkachuk said, according to Duffy’s testimony. “It’s very important that you claim all the claims and allowances. Because if you don’t, if you create any light between you and any other senator who’s on travel status while in Ottawa, but most particularly any Prince Edward Island senator, then the professor will come back and say, ‘See, he’s different, he’s not an Islander.’”
Duffy himself didn’t believe he should claim “per-diems” for meals he ate in his own home, he testified. “(Tkachuk) said you’ve got to claim them. Because not to do so could create controversy around whether you’re truly a Prince Edward Island senator … You must do this.”
Tkachuk also told him that whenever he travelled to boost the Conservative party profile, he was doing Senate work and should charge his expenses to the Senate, Duffy testified. Such claims are part of another set of charges Duffy faces.
“He said, ‘When you’re on the road, you’re doing public business. You’re meeting with local mayors, you’re meeting with councillors, you’re meeting with public officials … Whenever you’re out in the public, you’re on duty, and Senate resources are provided for that.’”
Senate rules explicitly forbid campaigning for Tories during election periods but not outside them, and Duffy was adamant he’d never billed the Senate for campaign work, except by accident.
“Having received these directions from Sen. Tkachuk, did you believe you could rely on them?” Bayne asked his client.
“Yes,” Duffy said. “He was our guru.”
Bayne also spent time Wednesday morning reviewing Duffy’s finances, attacking the idea that he had a motive to help himself to Senate money in the first place. Prosecutors, Bayne said, have created an innuendo “that you were in financial straits, and had a financial motive to try and nickel-and-dime or cheat the Senate out of money, because you were in financial straits. Sir, in the time period in question, and up to the present, have you been pressed by any creditors or been put under pressure by creditors to pay bills?”
“Never,” Duffy said.
Did he ever end up with any of the money sent to a friend in Senate contracts, which are the subject of a third set of charges?
“Not a penny,” Duffy said. “I have never broken the rules, let alone the law. I have never received a penny from anyone, ever.”
His testimony continues Wednesday afternoon.
dreevely@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/davidreevely
查看原文...
