Nigel Wright has insisted that the man who eventually replaced him as the prime minister’s chief of staff was not listening in on a March 2013 conference call in which the plan to repay Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses with $90,000 of Wright’s money was discussed.
That contradicts an earlier statement made to the RCMP by PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin, who was also on the March 22, 2013 call.
Perrin told RCMP that Ray Novak was in the room when Wright mentioned he would foot the $90,000 bill, and that Perrin even looked at Novak for his reaction.
Under cross-examination from Duffy’s lawyer Donald Bayne, Wright asserted that Novak “may have dropped into the office for a part of it, but he wasn’t on the call,” which took place between Perrin and Duffy’s then-lawyer Janice Payne.
“I think I wanted him on the call, but he didn’t participate,” Wright said.
Novak has publicly said he did not become aware of the plan for Wright to pay $90,000 to cover questionable expenses until May 14, 2013, when CTV’s Robert Fife broke the story.
After the court adjourned for the day, Bayne told CTV’s Philip Ling that “issues of credibility are very much an issue in this trial.”
Bayne also said outside court that he expects Perrin to testify, but would not comment on whether he thinks Novak will be called.
Stephen Harper has been asked repeatedly by reporters in recent days about the fact that Novak was copied on emails related to the plan weeks before he has said he became aware. Harper has insisted only Wright and Duffy are responsible.
“These are the two individuals responsible, and they are being held accountable and that is what is appropriate,” he told reporters on the campaign trail Monday after being asked why he “won’t clean house” after learning about the emails.
Draft memo to prime minister
Also Tuesday, a draft memo addressed to Harper from Wright that was created on March 22, 2013 -- the same day as the conference call -- was entered into evidence at the trial.
The memo suggests the prime minister’s top staff were furious about the Senate leadership’s handling of an unfolding expense scandal involving Duffy and Pamela Wallin.
The memo outlines the PMO’s rationale for an attached letter, drafted on behalf of the prime minister, to be sent to Senate government Leader Marjory LeBreton asking her to work closer with the PMO on a response.
The memo suggests LeBreton did not have enough control over the situation and had not embraced “the work of your office to bring communication and direction with the Senate closer to the model that we have with the House leader and the Chief Government Whip.”
“The lack of a strategic objective, the lack of a defined plan, the failure to assess the foreseeable consequences of actions taken, the failure to settle on a Government approach ahead of meetings with Senate officials and Opposition Senators, and the overall lack of coordination between the committee and subcommittees have generated serious issues in recent months and have greatly impeded our efforts to manage the issues,” it reads.
The letter takes issue with a Senate committee’s decision to “define 'residency' by reference to four pieces of provincially-issued identification and to do so publicly without any prior consultation with your office and no prior assessment of whether any Conservative Senators would fail the test.”
“While Senator Wallin has her own issues with expenses, this action opened up a new problem for her, given that she has an Ontario health card and the province of Ontario is now enquiring whether that is a breach of its rules given that she is a resident of Saskatchewan,” it reads.
The letter also mentions working to “resolve the Senator Duffy issue through his repayment,” but does not state that Wright would fund the repayment.
Wright admits he ‘got it wrong’
Earlier in the day, Wright said he got it wrong when he wrote the $90,000 cheque to cover Duffy’s expenses without considering the “connotations.”
Under aggressive questioning from Bayne, Wright said he thought it would be merely “embarrassing” if his payment to the former Conservative senator became public.
“I had no concept of the connotations,” he said.
“You had no concept? You’re the chief of staff to the prime minister. Were you walking around in the cloud?” Bayne shot back.
“I got that one wrong,” Wright replied.
Deloitte audit interference?
Bayne also accused Wright of trying to interfere with a “strictly confidential” Deloitte audit of Duffy’s expenses by going “through the back door.”
Citing PMO emails tabled in court, Bayne accused Wright of getting Sen. Irving Gerstein, who was chairman of the Conservative Party fund, to “influence the actual auditor” in an effort to line up a “script” that would clear Duffy as his expenses were repaid.
Wright denied trying to influence the outcome of the Deloitte report and said he “never expected or thought for a moment” that Gerstein was getting confidential information from the audit.
Wright said all he wanted Gerstein to do was to clarify the situation with Senate leadership and find out what Deloitte was proposing.
Wright has said he personally paid the $90,000 because he thought it was the right thing to do and he didn’t want taxpayers to be on the hook for the money.
But Bayne is arguing Wright and other PMO staffers forced Duffy into an orchestrated plan to deceive the public and make it look like the senator repaid his expenses himself.
Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges, including fraud, breach of trust and bribery in connection with his Senate expense claims.
