Pamela Wallin will not face criminal charges over her Senate expense claims
RCMP announces Sen. Pamela Wallin will not face criminal charges over her Senate expense claims.

thestar.com
May 19, 2016
By Bruce Campion-Smith

Sen. Pamela Wallin says her long “nightmare” is over after the Mounties announced Thursday that she would not face charges in connection with her Senate expenses.

Wallin went from being a Conservative star in the upper chamber to political pariah, booted from the party’s caucus, and ultimately suspended as a senator after questions were raised about her travel expenses.

After living under the cloud of a police probe for almost three years, Wallin got the news Thursday that no charges would be laid, following what the RCMP said was a “thorough investigation.”

“Following consultation with Crown Counsel, the RCMP has determined that no criminal charges will be laid against Senator Wallin and will be concluding its investigational file,” the police force said in its statement.

The announcement comes soon after Wallin’s Senate colleague, Mike Duffy, was cleared of all 31 charges including fraud, bribery and breach of trust, related to his own Senate expenses.

Wallin briefly spoke to journalists outside the Senate chamber Thursday afternoon, saying she was “very relieved” that the investigation had concluded.

“It has been a long three years and I’m glad this nightmare is over,” Wallin said.

“I am going to be consulting with my lawyer. I haven’t even seen a statement yet, so we may have something more to say at that time.”

Wallin’s lawyer, Terrence O’Sullivan, said the RCMP’s decision was something they had expected “but I’ve learned in this business that sometimes you can be surprised.”

Still, he told the Star that Wallin has endured a very difficult ordeal that often saw her the target of ridicule and abuse.

“It has been a long and painful journey for her and it has had a huge personal impact. It’s been hard on her family,” O’Sullivan said.

“She’s been subject to hurtful comments in public, people walking by her. I know that because I’ve been with her in airports and I’ve heard them,” he said in an interview.

And he said that Wallin regrets that both her parents, who died during the course of the police investigation, were not alive to see “this day of vindication.”

O’Sullivan said it was not likely that the Duffy verdict influenced the RCMP’s decision not to lay charges, saying the circumstances of the two cases were not similar.

“It’s more likely than not that they came to that decision independent of the decision in the Duffy case,” O’Sullivan said.

O’Sullivan said he would be talking to Wallin in the near future about next steps, including the possibility of trying to recoup the salary lost during her Senate suspension.

Duffy, Wallin and Sen. Patrick Brazeau, were suspended from the Senate in November 2013 for disputed expenses first flagged in an external audit and then referred to the police.

In a court filing, the RCMP alleged that Wallin had committed fraud and breach of trust by billing the Senate for travel expenses related to work on corporate boards, often involving trips to Toronto.

Those documents alleged that Wallin described an echocardiogram as networking, one of 150 travel expense claims deemed suspicious by police.

However, the allegations were never tested in court and Thursday’s announcement suggests that investigators and the Crown’s office saw little chance of a successful prosecution if charges were laid.

Wallin had repaid $154,191 in expense claims, including interest. Through her lawyer, Wallin previously said some expenses related to her work on corporate boards were mistakenly charged to the Senate.

Wallin’s suspension expired when Parliament was dissolved last year ahead of the fall election, allowing her to again collect a Senator’s salary of $145,400 a year and resume using office resources.

Speaking outside the red chamber Thursday, Senate Liberal leader James Cowan said he hopes the Senate can now “turn the page” on the expense scandal.

“I was opposed to the way that the Senate dealt with the senators at the time. I felt that the appropriate thing was that, if somebody is charged, then the Senate would suspend someone with pay until the outcome of the proceedings,” Cowan said.

“I hope that now we can kind of turn the page on this.”

During the debate on her suspensions, a number of senators, including retired Conservative Sen. Hugh Segal and sitting Conservative Don Plett, argued that Wallin and the others were not being afforded a fair process. Wallin herself accused some senators of succumbing to a “lynch mob” mentality.

But Sen. Leo Housakos told reporters he believes his fellow Conservative senators treated their one-time colleagues fairly, despite Duffy’s not guilty verdict and the RCMP’s decision to abandon the investigation into Wallin.

“At the time it was the right thing to do, I still believe it was the right thing to do,” Housakos said. “And again, we should not mix apples with oranges. A criminal investigation, or criminal trials, with civil elements . . . and a disciplinary issue, are three different elements.”

Sen. Jim Munson, a former broadcast journalist, said Wallin lived under a “cloud of suspicion” for too long.

“To have your name out there in the lights, and the rest of it, you’ve almost been convicted because your name is there. Why? Because you’re a public figure,” Munson said.

“She paid back what the Senate felt she owed, and then she paid with her time (while suspended without pay). And I say, y’know, enough is enough . . . . Can’t we just get over this stuff and get on with the business of doing the business of the Senate? It’s about time.”

Conservative Senate leader Claude Carignan, who led the former government’s efforts to suspend the three senators, refused to take questions on his way into the Senate.