Manitoba Senator Janis Johnson repays ineligible Senate expenses

Conservative Senator Janis Johnson has repaid the Senate $22,706, the full amount of her expenses identified as inappropriate by the auditor general in his audit, according to a statement on Johnson's website Wednesday.

"While I continue to refute the findings of the Auditor General, I have decided to put, what I consider, the interests of the Senate first," she wrote, adding the Senate has been "tarnished."

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Johnson wrote that she repaid the expenses to "restore honour" to the Senate, "even though I remain firmly convinced [her expenses] were all properly incurred and submitted."

She is one of 30 senators asked to reimburse expenses after the release of the auditor general's report. Nine of those senators' cases have been referred to the RCMP for investigation, although the Mountes can choose to investigate all 30. Johnson is not one of the nine cases referred.

Earlier this week, two other senators announced that they would be reimbursing the full amount of their contested expense claims. Senate Speaker Leo Housakos repaid $8,319, while Senator Nancy Greene Raine repaid $2,800.

See a full list of the senators and the amounts identified by the auditor general, along with the amounts repaid.