The federal ethics commissioner is no longer investigating a $90,000 cheque written to Sen. Mike Duffy by Nigel Wright, the former chief of staff in Prime Minister Stephen Harper鈥檚 office, because the RCMP has opened its own investigation.
Wright resigned last month after admitting he wrote a cheque to Duffy to enable him to reimburse the Senate for improper living expense claims.
Mary Dawson announced Thursday that she suspended her investigation into the matter when she learned Wright is under investigation by 鈥渁nother agency.鈥�
CTV confirmed the agency is the RCMP.
The Mounties released a statement on Thursday indicating that no charges related in the Senate investigation have been laid.
鈥淭he RCMP continues its investigation to determine whether a criminal act has taken place,鈥� Cpl. Lucy Shorey said in a statement.
Duffy was ordered to repay more than $90,000 for ineligible living expenses he had claimed, which he repaid in April. 麻豆传媒 later reported that the Duffy received $90,172 for the repayment from Wright, who has since resigned as Harper鈥檚 chief of staff.
Harper has maintained he didn鈥檛 know anything about the cheque to Duffy until CTV broke the news on May 15.
Sen. David Tkachuk, who stepped down as chair of the Senate鈥檚 Internal Economy committee Thursday as he undergoes preventative cancer treatment, said he would wait until the RCMP investigation wraps up before commenting on the matter.
鈥淚t bothers me a bit, but at the same time it鈥檚 not the first time and it won鈥檛 be the last time. Things like this happen to parliamentarians from time to time,鈥� Tkachuk told Power Play.
鈥淲hen these things take place what we have to be concerned about is that due process is followed and they鈥檙e treated like any other citizen would be,鈥� he added.
Last month the committee released reports based on the independent audits of housing expense claims filed by Duffy and Senators Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb.
Tkachuk said the three senators were sent letters this week indicating the amounts they鈥檙e required to repay, which they have 30 days to pay back.
When the audits were released in May, auditing firm Deloitte requested extra time to review the travel expenses of Senator Pamela Wallin.
Tkachuk said he expects that audit would be tabled in the Senate鈥檚 Internal Economy committee in late July.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not thrilled that it鈥檚 taking so long,鈥� said Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen. 鈥淎nd I do have to say, for Sen. Wallin too, it鈥檚 been a terribly long process and I don鈥檛 like that either. But for transparency, we will make every effort to make sure that everyone鈥檚 informed.鈥�
Wallin has already repaid $38,000 in travel expenses.
Canada鈥檚 Auditor General Michael Ferguson has also been called in to conduct an audit of Senate expenses.
Ferguson wouldn鈥檛 speculate on how long the audit would last, but said most performance audits take an average of 18 months.
During that time, Ferguson said he expects to have unrestricted access to pertinent information.
