XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
     Happy New Year to all of Harper's appointees in the senate . . . .   
   ______________________________________   
      
   Postmedia News January 2, 2014   
      
   Senators might be interviewed under oath, visited at home in audit of   
   Senate spending   
      
      
   OTTAWA — Canada’s auditor general has notified senators   
   that a   
   sweeping probe of their spending may include visits to their homes, and   
   that they could be interviewed under oath in “exceptional   
   circumstances.”   
      
   The details are laid out in documents auditor general Michael   
   Ferguson’s office provided to senators in November about the   
   comprehensive audit of Senate expenses. Copies of the documents,   
   including a three-page letter Ferguson wrote to senators, were obtained   
   by Postmedia News.   
      
   The documents note the Senate spending audit may include auditors   
   visiting the places senators have declared as their primary residence in   
   order to qualify for a $22,000-a-year housing allowance, and looking at   
   spending outside the current period under review — April 2011 to   
   March 2013 —if auditors have concerns about any senator.   
      
   Senators’ staff may be interviewed together or separately from   
   their bosses, and possibly under oath.   
      
   Ã¢Â€ÂœThe objective of the audit of the Senate of Canada is to determine   
   whether senators’ expenses and other senators’   
   transactions   
   have been properly controlled and incurred for parliamentary business   
   with due regard for the use of public funds,” reads part of the   
   summary of the audit plan given to senators.   
      
   The documents include a draft summary of the audit plan and copies of   
   slides used in a presentation Ferguson and his office made to senators   
   in late October. That closed-door meeting took place on Parliament Hill   
   as the Senate debated suspending senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau   
   and Pamela Wallin without pay over charges of “gross   
   negligence” with their expenses.   
      
   The documents suggest Ferguson’s team will probe deeper into the   
   spending habits of senators — including scrutinizing the spot   
   senators tell the Senate they call home — than outside auditors   
   from Deloitte did in 2013.   
      
   The Deloitte auditors didn’t note in their final reports that they   
   visited house visits as part of audits of housing claims from Duffy and   
   Brazeau, and former Liberal senator Mac Harb.   
      
   RCMP investigators looking into the questionable spending visited   
   Harb’s and Brazeau’s declared primary residences. In   
   court   
   documents, the Mounties have alleged Harb’s primary   
   residence was “uninhabitable,” and that Brazeau claimed   
   his father’s house as his primary residence.   
      
   It was in August that the Senate invited Ferguson’s office to   
   conduct a comprehensive audit. Ferguson has been given greater access   
   than his predecessor, Sheila Fraser, who was allowed a limited review of   
   a small sample of expense claims.   
      
   This time, Ferguson is reviewing the claims of all senators who have   
   been in the upper chamber over the last two years. However, that time   
   line is flexible: “On an exception basis, we will expand this time   
   period as needed to verify other matters that come to our   
   attention,” the audit summary reads.   
      
   The planning phase for the audit is over and teams of auditors have been   
   going into senators’ office poring through spending-related   
   documents. Senators are expected to provide auditors with expense   
   documents within five days of them being requested, and alert   
   Ferguson’s teams if any of the documents have been altered.   
      
   Senators were told late last year that auditors would ask for any   
   documents or records they felt they needed to see, including documents   
   subject to solicitor-client privilege. Senators have balked at requests   
   for those documents, and have also questioned auditors’ request for   
   personal banking and credit card information.   
      
   Ã¢Â€ÂœWe will request information that we determine is relevant and   
   necessary to enable us to carry out the audit,” Ferguson wrote in a   
   November letter to senators. “We may also access information held   
   by third parties, and auditors may visit the location of senators’   
   primary residence.   
      
   Ã¢Â€ÂœIn addition, we will be conducting interviews with you and your   
   staff (either together or separately). Under certain circumstances,   
   interviews may be conducted under oath, as authorized by the Auditor   
   General Act.”   
      
   Ferguson’s final report is expected to publicly list findings for   
   each senator. According to the documents, the final report will be   
   finished by December 2014.   
      
   None of the senators under investigation by the RCMP — Duffy,   
   Wallin, Brazeau and Harb — will be included in the audit. Nor will   
   the audit teams scrutinize the expenses of deceased senators, such as   
   Doug Finley, or Joyce Fairbairn, who retired early due to health reasons.   
      
   Aside from housing expenses, the spending audit includes the following   
   expense areas:   
      
   Ã¢Â€Â¢ Travel — both personal and while on Senate or   
   inter-parliamentary committee business — and hospitality expenses;   
      
   Ã¢Â€Â¢ Staffing policies, such as hiring and firing of employees, which   
   internal audits have flagged in the past as being problematic;   
      
   Ã¢Â€Â¢ Office spending, such as purchases of goods and services,   
   including contractors for research. Office budgets in the last fiscal   
   year were $161,200.   
      
   Wallin landed in hot water for her travel spending, and repaid about   
   $150,000 in questionable claims. Harb and Brazeau were ordered to repay   
   their questionable claims, despite Deloitte auditors saying they   
   couldn’t determine if any rules were broken.   
      
   Harb repaid about $231,000 in housing claims going back several years.   
   Brazeau has steadfastly denied wrongdoing, and the Senate has decided to   
   clawback his salary to recoup the $49,000 he owes — an action put   
   on hold while he is suspended without pay.   
      
   Duffy’s housing claims have come under RCMP scrutiny, as well as a   
   $90,000 payment from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief   
   of staff, Nigel Wright. The RCMP have also probed his office spending,   
   including allegations in court documents that Duffy gave $65,000 worth   
   of contracts to an old friend that resulted in little or no work.   
      
      
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