RCMP interviewing senators about Pamela Wallin’s expenses

Senator Pamela Wallin appears before a Senate committee hearing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, August 12, 2013. (Patrick Doyle / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

RCMP investigators are now conducting interviews on Parliament Hill about Sen. Pamela Wallin’s expenses, which were recently deemed ineligible by a Senate committee.

Sen. Marjory LeBreton, the former government leader in the Upper Chamber, confirmed to CTV News that she met with two RCMP officers “within the past two weeks.”

“I will not divulge the date and time of the meeting, the length of meeting or the nature of the questions posed to me,” she said in an email. “I think it is appropriate to fully co-operate with the police and then let them do their work.”

A Deloitte audit had flagged $121,348 in inappropriate travel expenses claimed by Wallin, and the Senate committee later determined she owed another $17,621, bringing her total tab to $138,969.

The Senate then referred Wallin’s audit to the RCMP.

Wallin recently repaid $100,600 in expenses that the Senate decided she was not supposed to claim, plus $13,938 in interest. She had previously repaid $38,000.

In a statement earlier this month, Wallin insisted that she has been treated unfairly and has done nothing wrong.

She said she submitted her expense claims “in good faith, honestly believing that the reimbursement was appropriate.”

The RCMP is also reviewing housing and living expenses claimed by former Conservatives Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau, as well as former Liberal Mac Harb, who has since resigned from the Senate.

Wallin has said that she will not resign because she’s not guilty of any misconduct.