Mike Duffy testimony reveals more details, but Crown avoids $90K cheque

In his eight days of testimony, six of those spent being questioned by his lawyer Donald Bayne, Senator Mike Duffy did admit to some wrongdoing he conceded that hehad inadvertently billedtaxpayers for about seven bucks worth ofexpenses related to two personalphotos.

As for everything elsethehousing allowancefor his Ottawa residence,the controversialtravel claims andseries of expenses paid through his former colleaguefor all thoseDuffy repeatedly insistedhe had followed the rules of the Senate and had broken no laws.

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Duffy has pleaded not guiltyto 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator and later repaid in March 2013 with $90,000 fromNigelWright, who at the time waschief of staff for thenprime minister StephenHarper.

Anyone who had beenexpectingDuffy to drop a political bombshell will surely feel disappointed by his testimony. Instead, court mostly heard the senator provide expanded explanations to many arguments that had already been advanced by Bayne.

There was a curious sidetrack into some political intrigue.Duffybriefly recounted a story he heard aboutallegedConservativeparty operatives, or a "black ops group"as he referred to them, whohaddeliberately misdirected voters in a Vancouver Island riding in 2008.

But when it came to more revelations aboutthe Prime Minister's Officescheme to have himadmit he had mistakenly claimed his housing expenses and that he would pay them back, Duffy's testimony was mostly focussed on the intensepressure he said wasput on him to accept this scenario, against his will,and quash the political controversy.

Duffy testifiedthat he knew, as didmembers of the PMO, including the prime minister himself,thathe had done nothing wrong byclaiming those housing expenses.He said he finally capitulatedunder the threat of losing his job.

It was this scheme that culminated with the$90,000 cheque beingwritten by Harper's then chief of staff Nigel Wright to cover Duffy's controversial expenses. However even on this, Duffy had little more to add, saying he had no idea that Wright had paid off his expenses, thinking they had been covered by the party's fund. (In 2013, Duffy told the Senate that Wright had told him that he would write the cheque.)

And if anyone benefited from this scheme, it was Harper, not himself, Duffy said.

Most curious, and somewhat surprising to courtroom observers, wasCrown prosecutor Mark Holmes'decision not to cross-examine Duffy on the bribery charges.

"The Crown has an obligation to cross on an allegation that they seek a conviction for," said Toronto-based criminal lawyer Joseph Neuberger. "And failure to cross on that set of allegations is most likely due to the Crown accepting that they are not able to get a conviction on that charge."

The Crown also never asked Duffy questions about his arrangement to have his colleague Gerald Donohuepay for some of his expenses.It's the Crown's contentionthat Duffy set up afund withDonohuetopay for some inappropriate or non-parliamentary services expenses thattheCrown sayswouldn't otherwise have been covered by Senate finance.

Donohue a 'general contractor'

But Duffy, under questioning from his lawyer Donald Bayne, defended his arrangement with Donohue,sayinghis colleaguewas a "general contractor" who would sub-contract out work, and that thepay structure was valid.

Court also heard the path Duffy said he took to being appointed a senator asherejected stories that had percolated foryears including talkthathe had lobbied for the position.

Instead, hetestified that his appointmentwasinstigated by the prime minister whohad invited him to his office to askhis opinions on the Senatewhile Duffywas working as political news hostwith CTV.

* When the idea ofDuffy becoming a senator was broached, hesaid he told Harper hewanted to be appointed to Ontario, a suggestion, Duffy said, the prime minister flatly rejected. Duffy testified that he cautionedHarper thathis appointment to P.E.I. could cause political waves among Conservatives in thatprovince. But later, under questioningbyHolmes, Duffy said he alsowanted to be in Ontario for health reasons.

Duffy there to 'friendraise'

Duffy said he was sent out to party events to"friendraise." He had beentold by a Harper aide, he testified, thatConservatives were looking to appoint people with a national profiles like Duffy to "expand the pool of accessible voters" in order to win a majority governmentandprovide "third-party validation" forHarper as someone Canadians could trust.

As for his housing allowances,Duffysaid it was Conservative Senator DavidTkachukwho had told him it was"essential" that heclaim thoseallowances for hisOttawa residence, even though Duffy had lived in the nation's capital for years.To do otherwise, Duffy saidTkachuktold him, would put him out of step with other senators making the same claims.

Duffy also providedfullerexplanations for some of his expense claims. The $1,500 billed forphotos and picture enhancements, for example, were all legitimate, said Duffy, part of "Senate memorabilia" and part of Senate related business.

He didadmit, however,that two pictures that cost about $7,including one of his daughter and grandson, were mistakenly expensed to the Senate.

The more than $10,000 he billed to the taxpayers forfitness trainer Mike Croskery was for consulting on aSenate project to improve fitness in senior Canadians, he said.Croskery, he said,used him as a "guinea pig" as they triedto work out a program that would be beneficial to seniors. Had he wanted fitness training, Duffy said, he could have used the parliamentary gym for free.

This was one of the fewexpenses the Crown cross-examinedDuffy about, asking him if he had read the other Senate reports on fitness. The suggestion, while not stated, was that Duffy knew the Senate had already done work on this issue and that his consulting story lacked credibilityBut Duffy said there was nothing in those reports that precluded him from going forward with his own project.

Kept focus narrow

Instead of going through each charge, as Bayne had done,Holmes kept hisfocus narrow.He grilledDuffy about his P.E.I.residency claims and why he had saidhe was a resident of Ontario in tax forms. Duffy said his accountant told him it would be illegal to say he was from P.E.I. sincehe worked in Ontario.

Holmes also asked Duffy about a 2009 trip the senator said he tookto attend a B.C. fair on behalf of a Conservative MP. Duffy, who also visited his family while there, denied the travel was for personal benefit.

Duffy was also quizzedabout his practice of pre-signing blank travel claim forms, something Duffy said was widespread among senators.

But for everything else, and presumably, the bribery case related to the$90,000 cheque, the Crown will leave that for closing arguments, scheduled to commence on Feb. 22.