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Canada senator, ex-senator charged with fraud in expenses scandal

by Reuters
Tuesday, 4 February 2014 17:58 GMT

A worker cleans the Senate chamber on Parliament Hill in Ottawa September 16, 2010. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

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Canadian police have laid fraud charges against a senator and a former senator following an expenses scandal that has rocked the country's unelected Senate and tainted the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper

By Randall Palmer

OTTAWA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Canadian police laid fraud charges against a senator and a former senator on Tuesday following an expenses scandal that has rocked the country's unelected Senate and tainted the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The fraud and breach-of-trust charges were laid by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police against Mac Harb, a Liberal appointee who resigned from the Senate in August, and Patrick Brazeau, who was expelled from the Conservative caucus last year and then suspended from the Senate because of what were deemed to be inappropriate expense claims.

The charges have not been proven in court. Representatives for Harb and Brazeau could not be reached for comment immediately.

"These investigations were detailed and involved the careful consideration and examination of evidence," Gilles Michaud, commanding officer of the Mounties' national division, said in a nationally televised statement.

"Our investigators interviewed dozens of individuals and witnesses. As is typical with any investigation, we also reviewed and analyzed thousands of documents, including financial statements, bank records and expense claims which dated back to 2003."

The controversy stems from housing and living expenses the two men claimed. While they provided no immediate reaction to the charges, both Harb and Brazeau have long said that they followed Senate rules in claiming expenses and that the rules were changed and unfairly applied retroactively.

Along with Brazeau, two other Conservative appointees involved in controversy over their expense claims have been suspended from the Senate. These two have also said they are innocent of wrongdoing.

Michaud said work was continuing on "other significant files".

Police said in November they were investigating Harper's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, on suspicion that he acted corruptly in giving his own money to one of the suspended senators, Mike Duffy, to help Duffy pay back expenses the Senate said he should not have claimed.

Wright has said he acted within the scope of his duties and has voiced confidence his actions were lawful.

With the scandal reaching right into Harper's office, the Conservatives have been hurt in the polls. The party came to power in 2006 pledging clean and accountable government.

The scandal has also damaged the reputation of the Senate, the upper house of Canada's parliament whose members are appointed rather than elected, and has spurred calls from across the political spectrum for the chamber to be reformed or abolished. (Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson; and Peter Galloway)

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