OTTAWA – The RCMP is seeking Mike Duffy’s personal credit card and banking information as part of its investigation into the senator’s housing and travel expense claims.
Court documents filed Thursday also state for the first time that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright, who gave Duffy a $90,000 cheque to pay off his inappropriate expenses, has provided “hundreds of pages of documents” to RCMP investigators.
RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton is asking the court to obtain Duffy’s personal credit card and bank account information from both RBC and CIBC as part of its investigation into an alleged breach of trust.
“This material is necessary to ensure a thorough audit of expenses,” Horton writes in the document, known as the information to obtain production order.
Horton said he believes Duffy has demonstrated a pattern of filing fraudulent expense claims.
Mark Grenon, a chartered accountant and “certified fraud examiner” who works in forensic accounting at Public Works, has been seconded to the RCMP’s sensitive and international investigations unit to conduct a comprehensive audit of Duffy’s expenses, the document says.
Horton said police are asking for information from three of Duffy’s personal credit cards and a personal bank account to show receipt of his expenses.
Duffy’s expense claims were handwritten, often with several amendments and corrections, Horton says.
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“Mr. Grenon has advised that there are some expense claims where he is unable to determine how much was actually paid to Duffy as a result of the claim, due to the pen strokes,” he says.
The police have previously stated they are also investigating Duffy for alleged fraud on the government in relation to the $90,000 cheque and Senate report that would go easy on him.
In June, the RCMP obtained documents from the Senate including Duffy’s housing declarations, travel expense claims, mobile phone records and Senate credit card statements.
The two allegations of breach of trust have to do with Duffy claiming and collecting a housing allowance for a secondary residence in the National Capital Region, and his expense claims including claiming per diems from the Senate while campaigning for the Conservatives.
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