OTTAWA, Ont. – Independent senator Pamela Wallin says an independent review of her expense claims is “fundamentally flawed and unfair”, but she still plans to repay any disallowed expenses, with interest.
Wallin – formerly a Conservative senator – said she never knowingly tried to claim expenses which she did not believe were legitimate senate business. However, she plans to pay back a total of $121,000 in travel costs with her own money.
“Let me state clearly that I will pay back the full amount ordered by the committee, including interest, once that final figure is determined and given to me,” Wallin said, Monday, “and I will do so out of my own resources.”
The audit examined every flight Wallin took during a 1,369 day period between January 1, 2009 and September 30, 2012. All flights were between Ottawa and Saskatchewan, the province she represents, with many of them including stopovers in Toronto of at least one night.
Sources report an additional $21,000 worth of claims needs to be more closely examined.
Wallin said Deloitte, the accounting firm which conducted the audit, used more recently established rules governing senate travel and expenses to assess the validity of earlier claims.
“Deloitte has wrongly – in my view and in the opinion of my lawyers – applied the 2012 changes made to the senators’ travel policy, retroactively,” she said.
The audit report will officially be released on Tuesday.