Fraud, What Fraud?
Does being appointed to the Senate of Canada translate as permission to be as arrogant and as rapacious of taxpayer dollars as one wishes? Certainly seems that way. Couldn't qualify as more arrogant, on the record, than sitting-but-disqualified-with-qualifications Senator Raymond Lavigne.
That's the very same senator who dispatched his principal aide to do tax-paid duty as an employee of the Senate, on his rural Wakefield property. Whose enthusiasm on behalf of the senator eclipsed ethical behaviour when he set about cutting down trees from a neighbour's property because the senator wanted an unobstructed view of the Ottawa river from his own property.
Which brought to light the rather unsavoury fact that Senator Lavigne thought it right and proper that he could misuse his Senate seat and use his Senate employed-aides to perform private tasks he assigned them, for his personal benefit, on the public purse.
These 'misdemeanors' saw the senator charged with fraud over $5,000, breach of trust and obstruction of justice for misappropriating public funds through instructing government staff that they should consider themselves his personal and private servants to perform yard work for him.
The Senate must be a rather laid-back place. Senator Lavigne was suspended from the Liberal caucus in 2006 over his misappropriation of Senate resources and the use of his office budget. The RCMP laid criminal charges of fraud in 2007. But the senator continues to collect his Senate salary of $132,300. And he is required to show up in person once each Senate session.
He is in bad odour, and his silent presence is tolerated once each session, but he is not to attend meetings or perform Senate or committee work through his suspension. All the poor man battling an unfair justice system is required to do is bank his Senate salary. And he has continued to do just that religiously.
He has also, unfortunately, continued to wrack up hefty expenses on the public dole. In a three-month period, September to November of 2010, he was found to have expropriated over $30,000 in office expenses, travel and cost-of-living expenses through the listing of Senate expenses.
This unfortunate revelation clearly demonstrates that all is not well with the Senate of Canada. The chamber grants senators facing criminal charges a leave of absence to ensure they may "maintain the dignity of the institution while still maintaining his rights to a presumption of being innocent", according to a spokesperson, but it appears not to be dedicated to keeping tabs on the subsequent 'entitlements' of tenderly disenfranchised senators.
With these new revelations, however, sober minds in the Chamber of Sober Second Thought have been alerted, and they state their resolve to ensure that further abuse of the public purse is apprehended. How tritely reassuring.
That's the very same senator who dispatched his principal aide to do tax-paid duty as an employee of the Senate, on his rural Wakefield property. Whose enthusiasm on behalf of the senator eclipsed ethical behaviour when he set about cutting down trees from a neighbour's property because the senator wanted an unobstructed view of the Ottawa river from his own property.
Which brought to light the rather unsavoury fact that Senator Lavigne thought it right and proper that he could misuse his Senate seat and use his Senate employed-aides to perform private tasks he assigned them, for his personal benefit, on the public purse.
These 'misdemeanors' saw the senator charged with fraud over $5,000, breach of trust and obstruction of justice for misappropriating public funds through instructing government staff that they should consider themselves his personal and private servants to perform yard work for him.
The Senate must be a rather laid-back place. Senator Lavigne was suspended from the Liberal caucus in 2006 over his misappropriation of Senate resources and the use of his office budget. The RCMP laid criminal charges of fraud in 2007. But the senator continues to collect his Senate salary of $132,300. And he is required to show up in person once each Senate session.
He is in bad odour, and his silent presence is tolerated once each session, but he is not to attend meetings or perform Senate or committee work through his suspension. All the poor man battling an unfair justice system is required to do is bank his Senate salary. And he has continued to do just that religiously.
He has also, unfortunately, continued to wrack up hefty expenses on the public dole. In a three-month period, September to November of 2010, he was found to have expropriated over $30,000 in office expenses, travel and cost-of-living expenses through the listing of Senate expenses.
This unfortunate revelation clearly demonstrates that all is not well with the Senate of Canada. The chamber grants senators facing criminal charges a leave of absence to ensure they may "maintain the dignity of the institution while still maintaining his rights to a presumption of being innocent", according to a spokesperson, but it appears not to be dedicated to keeping tabs on the subsequent 'entitlements' of tenderly disenfranchised senators.
With these new revelations, however, sober minds in the Chamber of Sober Second Thought have been alerted, and they state their resolve to ensure that further abuse of the public purse is apprehended. How tritely reassuring.
posted by Pieface @ 1:40 PM
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