OTTAWA – The RCMP appears to be broadening its investigation into Sen. Mike Duffy and examining property records of Mac Harb.
The force is examining elections returns of 12 Conservative MPs and candidates relating to expense claims and payments to Duffy, court records show.
According to documents filed in Ottawa provincial court, the nature of the investigation is an alleged breach of trust.
The documents, under the title “Project Amble,” also requested information about a house formerly owned by Sen. Mac Harb in Cobden, Ont. It was the same house Harb listed as his primary residence in 2003, allowing him to claim Ottawa living expenses.
“I can’t comment on this. Obviously, I mean they’re doing their job,” Harb said, when approached by Global News on Parliament Hill Thursday.
“Frankly I can’t comment on an issue before the courts.”
He said he has not been contacted by the RCMP.
“This is Canada. We have a justice system, and we have a right to go through the process, and at the end, justice will be served.”
Part of the investigation relating to Duffy is the expense records of 12 Tories, most of whom won their seats in the 2011 election:
MPs Gerald Keddy, Rodney Weston, Scott Armstrong, John Carmichael, Greg Kerr, Tilly O’Neill Gordon, Wladyslaw Lizon, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, Robert Goguen, along with defeated candidates Gin Siow, David Morse and Sandy Lee.
The Senate clerk also provided the RCMP a DVD containing Duffy’s expense claims from January 2009 to March 2011, the documents show.
And the RCMP has copies of Duffy’s declarations of primary and secondary residences, Senate proceedings and a May 2013 report about his travel claims.
A spokesman for the Conservative Party said based on what is being reported, the RCMP requested the returns from Elections Canada and they now have them.
“These are of course public documents available for anyone to review,” Fred DeLorey said in an email.
“The local campaigns paid for the expenses they incurred, which is the appropriate action to take when filing a return.”
The RCMP confirmed June 13 it was investigating Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff, who gave Duffy a $90,000 cheque to pay back his improperly claimed living expenses.
Senate officials confirmed last month they found a troubling pattern of Duffy claiming Ottawa living expenses while travelling elsewhere, including several days in 2011 when he was campaigning across the country for the Conservatives.
Harb has launched legal action against the Senate, which ordered him to repay more than $230,000.
Comments