RCMP charge Harb and Brazeau over Senate expenses

RCMP have charged former senator Mac Harb and suspended senator Patrick Brazeau with fraud and breach of trust over their Senate expenses.

Assistant commissioner Gilles Michaud, the commanding officer of the RCMP’s national division, announced the charges today.

Michaud says the RCMP is not pursuing allegations of bank fraud against Harb, however, because the allegations are not supported by the evidence.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus, meanwhile, says he hopes the charges mark just the start of a long-overdue clean-up of the Senate.

He says Canadians are weary of the scandal and want to see change.

The auditor general is already looking into the issue of housing and travel expense claims across the entire upper chamber.

“I think Canadians are fed up and I think Canadians want action,” Angus said.

The Mounties have spent months investigating allegations in the Senate expenses scandal.

They allege that Harb declared two largely unused country homes as his primary residences, allowing him to claim a Senate housing allowance and living expenses for his supposedly secondary residence in Ottawa, where he had lived for years and where he continued to spend most of his time.

Before he was named to the Senate in 2003, Harb served as Liberal MP for the riding of Ottawa Centre.

Although he has always denied any wrongdoing, Harb repaid the Senate $231,649.07 — the sum total of his living-related expenses.

Brazeau, a former Conservative, was suspended from the Senate after similar allegations about his housing claims.

The Mounties allege he fraudulently claimed his father’s home in Maniwaki, Que., as his primary residence, although he was rarely seen there and lived primarily just across the river from Ottawa in Gatineau, Que.

Both men have said they were simply following ambiguous Senate rules.

The Senate began garnisheeing Brazeau’s salary last spring after he refused to repay almost $50,000 in disputed expense claims.

However, he was subsequently suspended without pay from the Senate last fall, along with former Conservative senators Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin.

In a separate legal imbroglio, Brazeau is facing charges of assault and sexual assault, which were laid after an incident at his home last February.

The RCMP are also investigating Duffy and Wallin for their expenses, but neither has been charged.

Duffy’s expense troubles also snared Nigel Wright, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff. Wright gave Duffy a $90,000 cheque to allow him to repay questioned expenses.

Last September, Wallin paid back her disallowed travel claims. She said she repaid $100,600, plus interest, on top of $38,000 she had already repaid. That wasn’t enough, however, to save her from suspension.

The three suspended senators lost their pay and office resources, but kept their health, dental and life insurance benefits.