WATCH: Jacques Bourbeau explains of what the RCMP is accusing suspended senator Pamela Wallin.
OTTAWA – The RCMP alleges suspended senator Pamela Wallin billed taxpayers for trips to Toronto that had nothing to do with her Senate duties.
Instead, the RCMP alleges she took these trips to attend board meetings related to two companies with which she was involved – for a total cost of almost $27,500.
READ MORE: RCMP alleges Wallin committed fraud, breach of trust
Of 246 travel expense claims submitted by Wallin, there are 150 “suspicious” claims requiring further investigation, the Mounties say.
No charges have been laid, and none of the allegations has been proven in court.
Cpl. Rudy Exantus, a 14-year RCMP veteran who is currently assigned to sensitive and international investigations, says he believes Wallin committed breach of trust and fraud between Jan. 26, 2009 and Oct. 3, 2012.
“I believe that Senator Wallin traveled to Toronto to pursue personal and business interests, and later represented to the Senate that these travels were parliamentary related as she sought reimbursement for expenses incurred during these travels,” Exantus writes.
According to court documents released Monday, the Mounties are asking for more information about 24 claims from Porter Airlines and Gluskin Sheff and Associates, a wealth-management firm where Wallin was a board member for seven years.
Walllin also sat on the board of directors at Porter, but quit amidst an audit of her travel expenses in June 2013.
The RCMP wants invoices and expenses claims related to 11 Porter and 13 Gluskin events in Toronto, between Sept. 17, 2009 and Sept. 2012.
Investigators say Wallin was entitled to reimbursement for these expenses from the companies, and also submitted expense claims to the Senate.
READ MORE: Wallin regrets paying back some expenses
Wallin’s lawyer, Terrence O’Sullivan, said in an interview that some of his client’s public board expenses were inadvertently charged to the Senate. In September 2013, Wallin repaid more than $154,000 in expenses.
“When that error was discovered those expenses were repaid. There was no element for personal gain whatsoever in this for Senator Wallin since it was the policy of both companies to pay for her expenses to come to Toronto and to go back to Ottawa,” he said.
“By administrative error, they were submitted to the Senate.”
O’Sullivan said Wallin was not reimbursed by the companies.
“There was no double-dipping.”
Meetings with no record
RCMP are looking into meetings which include a lunch Wallin had with Porter CEO Robert Deluce, a Toronto Region Board of Trade dinner and board meetings she attended, among other things.
An analysis of her calendars shows Wallin also billed the Senate for a meeting with an investment firm owner she once had “an intimate relationship with,” a bone density test, and “picking up candle holders,” the Mounties say.
In one instance on Sept. 15, 2009, Wallin flew from Ottawa to Toronto.
Her office said it was to attend a reception by Dignitas International, a humanitarian organization related to accessing HIV/AIDS treatment, as well as a meeting with War Child Canada.
But after interviews with the organizations, RCMP investigators said there was no record of her travel. Instead, RCMP say it appears Wallin attended a University of Guelph chancellors’ dinner – which had nothing to do with her Senate duties.
In another instance on March 12, 2012, Wallin’s calendar and electronic backups said she was meeting with Peter Munk, founder and chairman of Barrick Gold, the largest gold mining company in the world.
But in an interview with the RCMP, Munk said he never had a personal lunch or dinner with Wallin, and could not have met her on March 12 because he was in Switzerland that day.
READ MORE: Nigel Wright won’t face criminal charges; Duffy, Wallin still under investigation
He said he may have had a phone call with her, or she could have met with his president or CEO – but Barrick Gold does not generally deal with senators.
The RCMP also interviewed Liberal Sen. George Furey, and Conservative senators Marjory LeBreton, David Tkachuk and Carolyn Stewart Olsen.
While sitting as chair of the steering committee, according to the documents, Tkachuck told Wallin she should be careful of her numerous trips to Toronto — one of the red flags that launched the investigation into the suspended senator’s expense claims.
LeBreton, meanwhile, told the RCMP she didn’t feel Wallin either committed a criminal offence or deliberately set out to scam the system.
Wallin’s former executive assistant, Helen Kryzyzewski, told investigators she did not believe Wallin would intentionally go to a corporate board meeting and claim Senate funds.
But another former executive assistant, Shelly Clark-Chenette, told the RCMP she expressed her doubts to Wallin regarding some expenses she believed were personal.
“Clark-Chenette remembered that Senator Wallin would reply that she had spoken to someone who confirmed that it was eligible. At times, Senator Wallin would get mad, telling Clark-Chenette something to the effect of ‘do it, just get it done, do it anyway,’” the officer wrote.
The details are contained in an information to obtain production order released by an Ottawa court on Monday.
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