Charges Against Senator Mike Duffy Dismissed

Mike Duffy was coming apart at the seams Thursday as an Ontario Court judge dismissed 12 of the 31 charges faced by the man at the centre of the long-running Senate expense scandal, and found him not guilty on four others.

So far, the judge has discussed the importance of the presumption of innocence and called the senator a “credible witness”.

In his 308-page decision the judge excoriated the actions of Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, and other senior members of the PMO.

Senate officials announced his full standing within hours of a verdict that cleared Duffy of 31 charges.

The trial continued as Harper launched last year’s election campaign, putting him on the hustings as the court heard that the prime minister’s office was deeply involved in trying to make the whole affair disappear. Polls suggested the scandal was chipping away at Conservative support – a point hammered home by Benjamin Perrin, a lifelong Conservative and former lawyer for the prime minister’s office, who said in October he believed the Harper government had “lost its moral authority to govern” and that he meant to vote for change.

That Duffy had not misrepresented his place of residence as Prince Edward Island when it was in fact Ottawa, and that in any event the Senate’s rules on housing were a mess.

Justice Vaillancourt said the credibility of Senate was not what was on trial: “As interesting as these issues may be, they are not the subject matter before this court”.

Senator Mike Duffy leaves the courthouse at the conclusion of his trial on Thursday, April 21, 2016 in Ottawa.

The case will serve as a reminder to what happens when Conservatives are in power, said Mulcair, but it also exposed real faults with the Senate.

Bayne also said that Duffy has likely suffered “more public humiliation than any Canadian in history”.

If Duffy is convicted, he could lose his Senate seat and face a maximum of 14 years in jail. Pamela Wallin. The RCMP handed over its investigation into her to Crown prosecutors a year ago but there’s been no movement since. After dissolution, his pay was reinstated but he remained on a leave of absence with no access to Senate resources because of his ongoing trial.