The Hill Times reports, “Former RCMP national director Garry Clement says that it’s now the Mounties’ job to figure out where the money (the $90,000 cheque from former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright to disgraced Senator Mike Duffy) came from. Mr. Clement said he expects that investigators will focus on where the transferred funds originated in the ongoing criminal investigation into (this controversy). …Investigators would look at whether or not Mr. Wright had received a $90,000 transfer from a third-party account around the time that the government claims Mr. Wright gifted Sen. Duffy $90,172.24 to cover ineligible living expense claims that the Senator had made since joining the Upper Chamber in 2009.”
“The government has maintained that the transfer was a personal transaction between Mr. Wright and Sen. Duffy, but in June the CBC published a story alleging that since 2006 successive PMO chiefs of staff have overseen a ’secret fund’ for political operations that includes taxpayer and donor funds. …The transaction could be in violation of sections 120 or 122 of the Criminal Code. Sec. 120 states that bribery is punishable by up to five years in prison. Sect. 122 states that a breach of trust by a public officer is also punishable by up to five years in prison.”
“PMO press secretary Carl Vallée declined to comment on the ongoing RCMP investigation.”
For more, please read:
Proof of Duffy-Wright cheque won’t spare PMO from RCMP probe
NEWS: PMO controls secret $1 million fund
VIEW: Nigel Wright’s role as party bagman deserves scrutiny, says McQuaig
UPDATE: Ethics of PMO meeting with Barrick Gold left unanswered
Nigel Wright arm-twists to get CETA signed
