XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Sponsorship scandal  (2004)   
      
   Illicit and even illegal activities within the administration of the   
   program were revealed, involving misuse and misdirection of public funds   
   intended for government advertising in Quebec. Such misdirections   
   included sponsorship money awarded to ad firms in return for little or   
   no work, which firms maintained Liberal organizers or fundraisers on   
   their payrolls or donated back part of the money to the Liberal Party.   
   __________________________   
      
      
   Today, under the Harper government:   
      
      
   CBC News Posted: Oct 08, 2013   
      
      
   Mike Duffy friend paid $65K for 'no apparent work,' RCMP allege   
   RCMP seeks bank records for Duffy, Patrick Brazeau   
      
   A friend of Mike Duffy was paid $65,000 by his Senate office for "little   
   or no apparent work," an RCMP investigator alleges in court documents   
   filed today in Ottawa.   
      
   The RCMP are seeking banking information for Duffy and Patrick Brazeau,   
   two senators named by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Duffy and Brazeau   
   are under investigation for fraud and breach of trust over their Senate   
   expense claims, the RCMP say in the affidavits.   
      
   In the affidavit pertaining to Duffy, Cpl. Greg Horton says he believes   
   Duffy "hired a friend as a consultant over an approximate four year   
   period, and paid him a total of approximately $65,000 during that time,   
   for little or no apparent work."   
      
   The money came out of Duffy's Senate office budget.   
      
   Horton said in the affidavit that the friend, Gerald Donohue, was   
   interviewed by investigators "and acknowledged that he produced no   
   tangible work product for Duffy."   
      
   Donohue, a former technician who worked for CTV and CBC, told   
   investigators that he did internet research and provided verbal advice   
   to Duffy, Horton wrote.   
      
      
   Where did the money go?   
      
   The RCMP needs the banking records to prove where the money went, Horton   
   wrote, because Donohue says he never saw any of it, and that it went to   
   his business. The money was paid by cheque, the court documents state.   
      
      
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   "The supporting documentation relating to the bank transactions will   
   assist investigators in identifying where the money went after it was   
   deposited, and who received the money if Donohue did not," Horton wrote.   
      
      
   Senator Patrick Brazeau   
      
   RCMP investigators are also seeking banking records for Senator Patrick   
   Brazeau. Brazeau is on a forced leave from the Senate following charges   
   in another matter.   
      
   The affidavit also notes that Nigel Wright, who was Harper's chief of   
   staff until he resigned over a report that he repaid $90,000 of Duffy's   
   Senate expenses out of his own pocket, turned over hundreds of pages of   
   emails to investigators on Aug. 21.   
      
   Wright also provided the RCMP with detailed calendars for Duffy from   
   2009 to December 2012.  Horton says Duffy sent the calendar to Wright in   
   February.   
      
   The work is described in the affidavit, and in copies of invoices   
   included in it, as "consulting/editorial services — research, speech   
   writing & revisions."   
      
      
   'Didn't perform duties' described in invoices   
      
   Donohue was interviewed on Aug. 27, 2013, Horton said in the affidavit,   
   and confirmed he didn't do the work described in invoices filed with the   
   Senate.   
      
   "Duffy or someone in the Senate prepared a broad job description, but   
   [Donohue] didn't perform the duties described in it... Though his job   
   description included speech writing, Donohue never did speech writing   
   for Duffy, or any other kind of writing.    He said Duffy has given him   
   speeches to proofread," Horton wrote.   
      
   Other details contained in the affidavit:   
      
   :    Duffy asked the Senate in November 2010 to backdate a contract by   
   six months — to April — for Donohue.   Senate Human Resources declined   
   to do so.   
      
   :    The Senate asked Duffy's office for more details about Donohue's   
   work in November 2010.  Duffy's office provided a revised statement of   
   duties a month later,   
         including media monitoring, writing birthday greetings and   
   delivering advice "in a timely manner in a fast-changing media/political   
   environment."   
      
   :    Donohue told investigators that he incorporated his company, Maple   
   Ridge Media, when he retired in 1997, but never used it.   Six years   
   later, he had a home built from   
         insulated concrete forms and started using the company to   
   distribute ICF products.  He later changed the name to Ottawa ICF.  He   
   sold the company in March 2012.   
      
   The current owner of Ottawa ICF is "not suspected of any involvement in   
   any of the matters under investigation," Horton said in the affidavit.   
      
   Police investigators and forensic accountants are reviewing the   
   information already provided by the Senate, including housing   
   declarations, travel expense claims and mobile phone bills, Horton said.   
      
   The lead forensic accountant is seconded to the RCMP by Public Works.   
   ________________________________________________________________   
   _____________________   
      
   Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in   
   his conduct.   ~  Thomas Jefferson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)