Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said that under the Parliament of Canada Act, it’s illegal to offer money to a legislator, “so why does Sen. Irving Gerstein still enjoy the complete confidence” of the prime minister?
“The senator denies that,” Harper shot back in the House of Commons.
Harper was referring to remarks Gerstein gave at a Tory policy convention in October when he told party faithful donor funds were never offered to the former broadcaster, who was recovering Wednesday from heart surgery.
Gerstein has dodged reporters for the last two weeks asking bout his role in a scheme that ultimately led to Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, giving Duffy more than $90,000 to make a political problem disappear.
Duffy and Wright are under investigation for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
“The fact of the matter is Sen. Duffy accepted a payment from Mr. Wright that was not properly reported and, in fact, was misrepresented widely to myself and the Canadian public,” Harper said.
Court documents say Gerstein was a proactive player in the arrangement to get Duffy to repay ill-gotten claims, including offering $32,000 plus interest before balking when the final bill topped $90,000.
The party did pay about $15,000 towards Duffy’s legal bills.
Harper was also pressed to explain how his former legal counsel, Benjamin Perrin, became a central figure in the Senate spending scandal despite saying he did not participate in, nor was he consulted about, Wright’s decision.
Harper was asked if Perrin’s departure from the PMO was related to Duffy, but would only say he left in March “and that was before this happened in May.”
But court documents say the Wright-Duffy affair was in full swing in February and continued through March when Duffy repaid the money.
Harper has said he only became aware of Wright’s actions in May after a news report. Court documents indicate he was unaware of the deal.
Opposition MPs continued to raise concerns Wednesday about the integrity of Perrin’s e-mails, which were found on the weekend after the party said they were deleted when he resigned from the PMO.
Harper said no information has been deleted and the e-mails are now in the possession of the RCMP.
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