Senate refusing more details on Wallin expenses

OTTAWA – The Senate is refusing to release details about which of the additional $17,622 in expenses Sen. Pamela Wallin must repay.

An audit of Wallin’s travel expenses over a three-and-a-half year period found the embattled Saskatchewan senator owes $121,348.

But Deloitte auditors also pointed to $20,978 in expenses that were “subject to interpretation” by a Senate committee.

The Senate’s internal economy steering committee announced Wednesday that Wallin should reimburse $17,622 of those expenses, meaning she now owes a grand total of $138,970.

But Senate communications is refusing to say which of the additional expenses should be repaid.

“This is the information that is available,” Senate communications officer Annie Joannette said in an email.

Follow-up questions received the same response.

Emails and calls to the three members on the steering committee – Conservative chair Sen. Gerald Comeau, Conservative Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, and Liberal Sen. George Furey – were not immediately returned Thursday. A representative from Comeau’s office suggested questions should be directed to Senate communications.

The audit lays out 31 of Wallin’s expense claims that were deemed “subject to interpretation and determination” by the Senate committee.

There are few details about the 31 expense claims, but some dates are cross-referenced with a section of the audit that outlines Wallin’s broad variety of networking events.

The audit also recommends amounts to be reimbursed.

They include:

–  A $196.88 expense on the day Wallin’s office said she attended a business dinner with the chair of a publishing company;

–  A $510.20 expense on a day Wallin met with an executive from Canada Post;

–  A $1,267.75 expense on a day Wallin attended a business meeting with the representative from a marketing company to talk Canada-China relations;

– A $708.26 expense on a day Wallin had dinner with a representative from a program that helps low-income youth.

It is not known which, if any of them, now need to be repaid.

The most expensive claim subject to interpretation was a $1,895 trip from September 4 to 8, 2009.

Wallin flew from Toronto to Saskatoon to Wadena to Toronto, and the purpose of the travel is listed as a tour of Cameco, one of the world’s largest publicly-traded uranium companies.

The most expensive time period was between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010, when $9,123 worth of Wallin’s claims were subject to intepretation.

Most of the trips are listed simply as “Senate business.”

The committee’s decision means $3,356 of the expenses were allowed.

Wallin has called the audit flawed and unfair, but said she will repay whatever she owes, with interest.

The Senate has referred the matter to the RCMP.