Ontario Liberals pay back $11k given to specialist to wipe computers

TORONTO – The Ontario Liberals are reimbursing the roughly $11,000 paid to a computer expert to delete personal information from computers in the premier’s office. The computers also contained documents related to the cancelled gas plants.

Police documents released earlier in December revealed the Liberals paid Peter Faist, the spouse of then-Premier Dalton McGuinty’s deputy chief of staff, approximately $10,000 to wipe the computers of personal data.

The Liberals announced Tuesday they’d reimburse the money to ensure “no tax dollars are expended for work performed.”

“We had no information until the release of this ITO that any services invoiced by Mr. Faist in fact related to the matters under investigation,” the statement read. “Although it would it be inappropriate to prejudge the outcome of the ongoing investigation, in light of this new information the Premier has concluded that tax dollars should not have been expended for the work performed.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We had no information until the release of this ITO that any services invoiced by Mr. Faist in fact related to the matters under investigation," the statement read. "Although it would it be inappropriate to prejudge the outcome of the ongoing investigation, in light of this new information the Premier has concluded that tax dollars should not have been expended for the work performed."

Faist allegedly told police in an interview he was under the impression that the “Cabinet Office was aware of his presence and the work requested of him,” according to the documents. Faist’s lawyer insists his client did nothing wrong.

WATCH: (Dec. 18) OPP documents allege Liberal Caucus paid outsider $10k to wipe computers

The documents released last week allege McGuinty’s chief of staff David Livingston conducted a breach of trust by allowing a non-public service employee to access government computers, install software and delete data on 21 hard drives within the premier’s office.

Livingston has not been charged with anything however and the statements made in the police documents have not been proven in court. Livingston has also insisted in the past that the did nothing wrong.

The documents were used by the OPP to obtain a search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into the deletion of government emails relating to the cancelled gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga, prior to the Oct. 2011 provincial election. Ontario’s auditor general has estimated the costs of cancelling both gas plants could range from $950 million to almost $1.1 billion.