Mike Duffy trial: Crown says senator got $10K for speech, billed $3K for travel
Suspended senator's trial taking 3-week break before starting again next month
Mike Duffy was paid $10,000 to give a speech at a building owners conference in Ottawa in 2012, billing the Senate around $3,000 for travel expenses, prosecutors said in court today.
On the last day of the first phase of the trial, court heard from Dean Karakasis, executive director of the Ottawa branch of the Building Owners and Managers Association.
Karakasis testified that Duffy was hired through the National Speakers Bureau for a total of $11,384.75 (including HST/GST) to deliver a speech on Sept. 12, 2012, about the behind the scenes activities of Parliament. He said Duffy arrived for the event just before noon that day, delivered a half-hour speech, stayed for lunch and then left.
According to court exhibits, from Sept. 11 to 13, Duffy billed the Senate more than $3,000 to travel with his wife from Charlottetown to Ottawa and back again. He also charged around $140 for taxi expenses. That Duffy received money for the speech is not an issue at the trial, as senators are allowed to be paid for such appearances. But the Crown contends that Duffy billed his travel expenses to the Senate to deliver that speech and that those expenses constitute fraud. However, under cross-examination by Duffy's lawyer Donald Bayne, Karakasis admitted he didn't know what other Senate-related business Duffy had that day or around that time.
Duffy has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator and later repaid with money from the prime minister's former chief of staff Nigel Wright.
The trial, in its 22nd day Friday, began April 7 in the Ontario court of justice in Ottawa. Court proceedings will now take a break and restart on June 1. The trial had been slated for 41 days, but both the Crown and defence have made it clear that they will need more time.
Received cheque from Duffy
Court also heard from Bill Rodgers, a former Parliament Hill journalist and one-time Conservative staffer, who testified he received a cheque payment in 2012 from Duffy after the two had conversations about a number of issues including climate change, aboriginal affairs and water quality.
Rodgers said he did not expect any payment, and that he didn't believe it was necessary because he and Duffy were friends. But Duffy said he was going to check with his friend Gerald Donohue as to whether there was any money left.
Court has heard that Donohue had been awarded a series of Senate research contracts with Duffy worth nearly $65,000. The RCMP has said Donohue received the money for "little or no apparent work." Instead, the Crown alleges, that pool of money was used by Duffy to pay for some inappropriate or non-parliamentary services — expenses, the Crown believes, wouldn't have been covered by the Senate.
Cheques signed by Donohue to pay for those services came from either Maple Ridge Media, or later Ottawa ICF, companies owned by Donohue's family, court has heard.
When Duffy mentioned a possible payment, Rodgers told court, "I just assumed it would be coming from the Senate of Canada."
Rodgers, who was paid $2,000 through Ottawa ICF, testified that he "thought it was unusual having a third party paying me."
However, he said, he later learned from an RCMP officer that that arrangement happens quite frequently with other senators, that "it's not a Mike Duffy practice."
Duffy and dog show
Earlier, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro testified that Duffy told him he was in town for a dog show in 2010 when they met at a Tim Hortons in Peterborough, Ont., a trip the Crown claims the suspended senator inappropriately expensed to the Senate.
Del Mastro, a former parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, was convicted last fall of violating the Canada Elections Act during the 2008 election. He has since resigned his House of Commons seat.
Testifying by phone, he said he had received a call from Duffy in July 2010 telling him he was in Peterborough and asking him whether they could get together.
Del Mastro said he met with Duffy and his wife Heather for about an hour at a Tim Hortons where they had a coffee and discussed a number of issues that were in the news at the time.
"Did the senator tell you why he was in town?" Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes asked.
"He did. They were attending a dog show that's an annual event in Peterborough. It's a big local event that happens every year in Peterborough," Del Mastro said, adding that he didn't attend the event that year.
The Crown has alleged that Duffy inappropriately expensed the trip to purchase a Kerry blue terrier at the dog show, claiming it was not part of his parliamentary functions.
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Under cross-examination from Bayne, Del Mastro said while he couldn't recall the issues he discussed with Duffy, he was relatively sure they had talked about his idea to set up an internet broadcast program for MPs.
According to Duffy's expense claims, he and his wife travelled to Peterborough in July 2010 on "public business" for what he said were meetings with local officials to discuss "broadcasting issues."
Court also heard how Del Mastro had picked up Duffy in June 2009 from his Kanata, Ont,. home and drove him in his red Dodge Charger to a fundraising event in Peterborough held by the local Conservative riding association.
Court heard that Duffy attended another event in the area the following day. He then flew from Toronto to Ottawa, a flight he expensed to the Senate.
But Bayne suggested the Peterborough event had a larger purpose than just fundraising.
"Would you agree with what some like to call fundraisers ... they're also more really profile raisers, rallying the troops and hoping to expand the tent or the base of accessible voters?
"Certainly," Del Mastro said.
With files from Kady O'Malley and The Canadian Press