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   From: doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca   
      
   In ab.politics Con?RCon?  wrote:   
   :   . . . . If Harper was behind the order to alter - or stop - a formal   
   : audit by Deloitte ?   
   : _______________________________________   
      
      
   : By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press - November 24, 2013   
      
   : Harper approved plan to compel Duffy to repay expenses: PMO   
      
      
      
   : OTTAWA - What exactly went down on Feb. 22, 2013, when the prime   
   : minister's chief of staff approached him about how to deal with the Mike   
   : Duffy Senate expenses headache?   
      
   : Two clear but very different versions of events have emerged:   
      
   : A)  Nigel Wright meets with Harper and conceals the details of an   
   : agreement with Duffy, but then tells other staff in the Prime Minister's   
   : Office that the PM has approved the deal.   
      
   : B)  Harper was informed of and approved a deal, or parts of a deal, that   
   : could turn out to be criminal.   
      
      
   : Duffy and Wright face police allegations of bribery, breach of trust and   
   : fraud in connection with the fateful agreement. No charges have yet been   
   : laid.   
      
   : Stephen Harper's spokesman Jason MacDonald spoke to a variety of media   
   : outlets on Sunday to lay out in detail Harper's account, in the wake of   
   : a release of an RCMP affidavit on the affair.             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   : MacDonald said when Wright and Harper met that day, Wright sought   
   : approval to "compel" a stubborn Duffy to repay his contested housing   
   : expenses ? at that time estimated at only $32,000.   
      
   : "You have a caucus member who is actively resisting paying, doesn't   
   : believe he did anything wrong, doesn't believe he should repay it,"   
   : MacDonald told The Canadian Press.   
      
   : "So Nigel goes back to the prime minister and says, 'We're going to go   
   : back to him again and tell him he has to repay it, and he's not going to   
   : like that, he's going to resist it and he's going to fight it,' and we   
   : all know that even to this day he still doesn't believe he did anything   
   : wrong or should have had to repay, and hasn't."   
      
   : When asked how Wright proposed to "compel" Duffy to repay, whether there   
   : was some sort of ultimatum attached, MacDonald said it was just telling   
   : Duffy to repay.  The opposition have ridiculed the suggestion that   
   : Harper's permission was sought simply to have Duffy repay his own expenses.   
      
   : Wright's version, revealed in emails and interviews obtained by the RCMP   
   : in their ongoing investigation, suggests Wright went to Harper with a   
   : different, much more elaborate scenario that included covering Duffy's   
   : expenses.   
      
   : At the time, discussions were underway between the PMO and Duffy's   
   : lawyer Janice Payne that would see the embattled senator repay his   
   : expenses and say so publicly, even though he felt he had nothing wrong.   
   :   In exchange, the party would repay him for the outlay, Duffy would be   
   : spared any further questions about whether Ottawa or PEI was his primary   
   : residence, and he would be withdrawn from a Senate-commissioned audit.   
      
   : At the time, Duffy was being scrutinized for claiming housing expenses   
   : for a secondary residence in Ottawa, even though that was where he   
   : mainly lived.   
      
   : Wright wrote to PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin and other staffers on Feb. 22   
   : about the deal.   
      
   : "Ben, please go back to Ms. Payne on these points and ascertain where   
   : they stand on everything else.  I do want to speak to the PM before   
   : everything is considered," Wright wrote to the PMO lawyer and other   
   : staffers on Feb. 22, messaging back an hour later:  "We are good to go   
   : from the PM..."   
      
   : Ultimately, when Duffy's expense bill reached $90,000, an apparently   
   : exasperated Wright decided to cover the cost himself ? something at   
   : least six other Conservatives were told about.  Harper has insisted he   
   : was not in the loop about that either.   
      
   : When the story broke in the media in May, Wright wrote to another PMO   
   : staffer telling him, "The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I   
   : personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to pay the   
   : expenses."   
      
   : Three of the other major figures in the deal with Duffy ? Sen. Irving   
   : Gerstein, former PMO director of issues management Chris Woodcock, and   
   : parliamentary affairs manager Patrick Rogers remain employed by either   
   : the party or the government.   
      
   : MacDonald repeated Harper's argument that Wright bears sole responsibility.   
      
   : But Gerstein, chairman of the Conservative Fund Canada, was not Wright's   
   : subordinate.  In fact, Wright sought Gerstein's approval to use party   
   : funds to repay Duffy.   
      
   : The 80-page RCMP court file showed that Gerstein approached a contact he   
   : knew at the firm Deloitte to ask about the audit they were doing on   
   : Duffy's expenses for the Senate.   
      
   : They wanted the examination of Duffy's residency to be declared moot as   
   : soon as he repaid his expenses, which was part of Duffy's demands.   
      
   : Following that Gerstein contact, emails between figures inside the PMO   
   : suggest that some sort of information was communicated to them about the   
   : audit.  The Senate committee that first commissioned the audit has   
   : summoned Deloitte to answer questions about this on Thursday.   
      
   : Harper was also unaware this was going on, MacDonald said.   
      
   : "One, he was not aware that Mr. Gerstein was reaching out to Deloitte or   
   : had been asked to reach out to Deloitte, and again had he known about   
   : that he would have put a stop to it," he said.   
      
   : MacDonald and Harper have emphasized that only Wright and Duffy face   
   : allegations of criminal wrongdoing.  But did they breach any moral or   
   : ethical standards by playing along with the Duffy scheme?   
      
   : "Ultimately, Mr. Wright has taken responsibility for this.  Yes, he has   
   : identified people that he informed of what he was doing, or involved in   
   : some way, but ultimately these folks are not being investigated by the   
   : RCMP," said MacDonald.   
      
   : Wright's lawyer did not immediately respond to an email asking for   
   : reaction to MacDonald's comments, but Wright issued a statement last   
   : week saying he acted within the scope of his duties and is confident his   
   : actions were lawful.   
      
   : NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told reporters Sunday that MacDonald was   
   : "talking nonsense" when he said Harper did not know about the Duffy deal   
   : with PMO.   
      
   : "Of course everything points to Stephen Harper knowing full well what's   
   : going on his office," said Mulcair.  "He's a control freak and it's   
   : simply not credible that every single senior member of his staff was   
   : involved in this but somehow he knew nothing of it."   
      
   : When it comes to another point of controversy, the fact the PMO was   
   : deeply involved in shaping a Senate report on Duffy's expenses, Harper's   
   : office says it's not concerned. Emails show that pressure was brought to   
   : bear by PMO staff, later carried out by key senators, to remove   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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