By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper's aides forced a political ally to repay expenses he was
probably entitled to because they wanted a damaging ethics
scandal put to an end, Harper's former chief of staff testified
on Thursday.
Conservative Senator Michael Duffy is on trial for bribery
and abusing expense claims in a high-profile case that could
hurt the governing Conservatives in the runup to Canada's Oct.
19 election. The Conservatives, in power since 2006, are seeking
a rare fourth consecutive term.
Nigel Wright, Harper's former top aide, told an Ottawa court
that when a scandal over Duffy's expenses became embarrassing
for the Conservatives he leaned on Duffy to repay the money,
though the senator may well have done nothing illegal.
"We did not think the public would accept the
appropriateness of the expenses we are talking about," Wright
said. "I was certainly putting pressure on Senator Duffy to
repay money that I felt he probably didn't, or might not, owe."
The scandal erupted in February 2013 when it became clear
Duffy had claimed his full-time home in Ottawa was in fact a
secondary residence and filed for tens of thousands of dollars
in living expenses.
Duffy said rules in the Senate - Parliament's upper chamber
- were so vague that he had done nothing wrong by claiming the
expenses, which eventually totaled C$90,000 ($68,800).
Wright insisted Duffy repay the money on what he called
moral grounds and said Harper had agreed with this approach. The
Conservatives came to power promising to clean up federal
politics.
Duffy eventually agreed but then said he didn't have enough
funds. Wright, telling the court "I absolutely wanted the
problem to go away", secretly gave Duffy a personal check for
C$90,000.
Wright left his job in May 2013 after news of the check
became public. Harper says he knew nothing about the payment to
Duffy and took appropriate action when he found out.
"Whether it was within the rules or not, he was making
expense claims that did not represent real expenses," Harper
told reporters on the campaign trail.
Opposition parties say the scandal shows the Conservatives
should be turfed from power. Opinion polls indicate the party
is set to lose its majority in the House of Commons.
Duffy's lawyer, Donald Bayne, told Wright he had engaged in
a "a deliberately deceptive scenario" to fool Canadians into
thinking Duffy had paid the money.
($1=$1.31 Canadian)
(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson; and Peter Galloway)