Nigel Wright, the person that paid back Mike Duffy's $90,000 expense claim overpayment, has resigned from his position as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.
The question will now be how Harper will reward him for this service.
So far, the only comment in the matter from Harper is,
“It is with great regret that I have accepted the resignation of Nigel Wright as my chief of staff. I accept that Nigel believed he was acting in the public interest, but I understand the decision he has taken to resign.
"I want to thank Nigel for his tremendous contribution to our government over the past two and a half years,"
By resigning, Nigel Wright is trying to remove the spotlight from the Senate and the excessive expenses they incur, of which some may have been fraudulent under the (confusing?) guidelines.
There are two aspects to the situation. First, did Mike Duffy submit expense claims that he was not entitled to? He has refused to discuss the situation with the auditors. By repaying the amount in question, he had the audit closed and refused to meet with them or hand over any relevant documents.
But the repayment was actually a gift where the receipt of the gift was not properly registered so as to follow the Conflict of Interest Code that was adopted in May of 2012 and came into force in October 2012. Mike Duffy was appointed in December of 2008 and therefore was part of the Senate when this Code was adopted. It was not part of the thousands of documents that were passed over the last century and gathering dust in the archives. This was a current piece of information that Mike Duffy was part of, if not writing and amending it, voted on whether to adopt it.
From the code:
Prohibition: gifts and other benefits
17. (1) Neither a Senator, nor a family member, shall
accept, directly or indirectly, any gift or other benefit, except
compensation authorized by law, that could reasonably be
considered to relate to the Senator’s position.
Exception
(2) A Senator, and a family member, may, however,
accept gifts or other benefits received as a normal expression
of courtesy or protocol, or within the customary standards
of hospitality that normally accompany the Senator’s
position.
Statement: gift or other benefit
(3) If a gift or other benefit that is accepted under
subsection (2) by a Senator or his or her family members
exceeds $500 in value, or if the total value of all such gifts or
benefits received from one source in a 12-month period
exceeds $500, the Senator shall, within 30 days after the gift
or benefit is received or after that total value is exceeded, as
the case may be, file with the Senate Ethics Officer a
statement disclosing the nature and value of the gifts or other
benefits, their source and the circumstances under which
they were given.
This code was adopted to clarify what the members of the Senate could accept. For people in their situation, it may be common to receive an innocent birthday present of that value. If an uncle wants to pay for their child's university then all the Senator has to do is clearly report the details in a timely manner.
But when a ninety thousand dollar "gift" lands in a Senator's lap, there is the assumption that something is expected in return. Will the recipient have to vote in a certain way in the future? If one of Nigel's corporations will benefit from a bill passing or being squashed in the Senate, will he be able to call up the guy he bailed out and ask to have his back scratched this time? By not reporting it, the possibility appears to be very likely. This is why the code was written and adopted - to remove the appearance of Senators being controlled in exchange for money.
The audit of Mike Duffy's expense claims is being re-opened. There is a high probability that it may have been fraudulent. There has also been a couple of examples where he was reimbursed for expenses during Senate activities and then also reimbursed for the same expenses by the Conservative party account. Mike Duffy refused to hand over the documents to determine where and what he was doing on the dates he submitted Senate expense claims for. Through phone records, it has been determined that he was in Florida during the time that one of the expense claims was asking for the per diem compensation.
If Harper truly believes in transparency, he will also have the Conservative party workers provide the documentation required so the whole issue can be viewed by the independent third party of auditors. Even if it may result in kicking Duffy out of the Senate or into a jail cell.
The question also being asked is "How much will be covered up by Harper and the Conservatives in the attempt to protect their buddies in the Senate?"
sources: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/05/19/pol-nigel-wright-resigns.html
http://sen.parl.gc.ca/seo-cse/PDF/CodeOct2012.pdf
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