Saturday, November 12, 2016

Now We Know Why The RCMP Didn't Charge Nigel Wright



It was for me the burning question at the heart of the Mike Duffy scandal. The one that never got answered.

Why did the RCMP charge Duffy with bribery, and not charge Nigel Wright for paying that bribe out of his own pocket?

And now we finally know the answer.



And it couldn't be more shocking. 

The RCMP had enough evidence to charge Nigel Wright but chose not to proceed so that the former chief of staff could testify in the criminal trial of Senator Mike Duffy, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail. 


With an uncertain prospect of conviction, investigators chose a path that would allow Mr. Wright to remain an “unindicted co-conspirator,” because they deemed Mr. Duffy, a sitting senator, to be of greater public interest than an unelected senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office.


Or more bizarre.

Sergeant Greg Horton, the lead investigator on the case, wrote in a March 19, 2014 report that any decision to charge Mr. Wright “must be weighed in the interest of the investigation itself, as well as what would serve the public best, irrespective of any criticism that may be levelled as a result of that decision.”

The RCMP decided to go after Duffy because they considered this hapless old hack...



A bigger fish than Nigel Wright who ran Stephen Harper's PMO...



Mr. Horton described Mr. Wright as “co-operative and forthright” and said he provided “tangible evidence” that helped advance Mr. Duffy’s investigation. He also wrote that Mr. Wright’s “position on the government hierarchy was considerably lower than that of any senator or member of the House of Commons.”

It simply beggars belief. And in my mind at least, raises once again the spectre of political interference.

For the RCMP surely would have known that if they charged Wright, Stephen Harper would have almost certainly have been forced to testify.

We might finally have found out what Harper meant, when according to Wright he said the Duffy plan was "good to go."

That would have ruined Harper's chances of winning the next election, even before he called it.

And I can only imagine how desperate his PMO must have been...



Or how great the pressure must have been on the RCMP to avoid charging Wright.

And after being reminded what the trial judge had to say at the end of that sham trial.

In his scathing April 22 decision, Ontario Justice Charles Vaillancourt condemned “the mind-boggling and shocking conduct” of the PMO, which exerted what he called “threats and pressure” to get the senator to repay his expenses.

And what he thought about the Harper PMO.

I'll always believe that the attempted cover-up was the real scandal.

And that this monstrous political thug escaped the justice he deserved...



Time moves on, but some things never change.

The Canadian legal system; one law for the rich and the powerful.

And another for the rest of us...


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always felt that the real criminal was Steven Harper who instigated this bribe as well as the cover up. I was profoundly disgusted when Harper stood up in the HOC and lied to the Canadian people about his knowledge of the 90000. Watch that tape and tell me he isn't lying. The look on his face told me he'd been caught.

rumleyfips said...

So the Horsesassmen charged a guy they knew was innocent so they didn't have to charge a guy they knew was guilty. I feel so much safer now.

Anonymous said...

What is stopping Wright from being charged now?

The Mound of Sound said...

Simon, in the several months between this scandal breaking out, Wright's resignation turned firing, and the RCMP announcing that Wright was blameless (that's what they said at the time), I kept hearing from a prominent Ottawa Tory that Wright was staying in town, making the rounds socially, and letting it be known that, if he was charged, he wasn't the only one going down. The message seemed to be that, if Wright was charged, he would implicate Harper as the controlling mind of the whole business.

The RCMP had to take Wright off the hook. That was the only way to take the prime minister, the Tory Senate leadership, top PMO aides and a couple of senior party officials off the hook. They didn't need Wright's cooperation to nail Duffy. They had his whole story long before they decided to give Wright a pass.

This story is as convoluted and nonsensical as the whole theory of the "immaculate bribe." Seen in the context of a prosecution that brought a staggering 31-counts against Duffy and his acquittal on all 31 charges and the political dimension of this prosecution is ridiculously obvious. The RCMP collaborated in a political show trial.

Vaillancourt saw straight through it. He said that there was a crime but the culpable parties were never charged or brought to trial. Even after that they never were. The RCMP, its real job done, simply closed the file.

Anonymous said...

"The Canadian legal system; one law for the rich and the powerful.

And another for the rest of us..."

I absolutely agree. One does not have to look further than the Maryam Monsef case to see special treatment. Funny thing is, Trudeau's government has revoked citizenship at a much higher rate than Harper! http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/citizenship-revocation-trudeau-harper-1.3795733

The liberals will do anything they can to protect her when in similar cases people have been stripped of their citizenship. http://www.torontosun.com/2016/11/10/monsef-shouldnt-be-above-the-law

-MC

luceforma said...

oh and Bruce Carson (the elite thug) gets $50,000 fine.
i'd like to know how much money this criminal made by influence peddling and illegally lobbying the government of stevie.
no duffy shame, no public lynching.

nigel wright is a sad man and should, for the love of Canada, always stay away.

Anonymous said...

Anyone with a functioning brain cell knew from the start that Duffy was a scapegoat.

Anonymous said...

The fact Paulson is still there suggests his affiliation to the PM of the day regardless of party lines or his duty to the tax payers. Its all so very reassuring.

Lulymay said...

I totally agree with your summary, Mound. Harper's eyes were ske-daddling all over the room as he was unable to look into that camera as he told his lies. Duffy didn't have a lot of friends by this time and he was an easy target to dump the whole sorry mess on. As someone who comes from a long line of NWMP members going right back to the formation, I am totally disgusted with what they have become.

Simon said...

hi anon...I have always found it hard to believe that a control freak like Harper didn't know what was going on. Especially since the PMO e-mails show that's all those deplorables were talking about. And I will always regret that he wasn't forced to repeat his lies under oath...

Simon said...

hi rumleyfips...it really does look and sound like an episode of the Keystone Cops. Except of course it's not funny. And what makes it worse is that not only did they pass on charging Wright, they make him sound like an exemplary citizen...

Simon said...

hi anon... Only some new evidence could make that happen, and even then I'm pretty sure that nobody in Ottawa wants to revisit that story. In Canada, when it comes to the rich and the powerful, first they blow the case, and then they bury it...

Simon said...

hi Mound...I agree with you completely. The story is nonsensical and it has every characteristic of a political show trial. A sham if ever there was one. And let's not forget the judge in the robocall trial also sentenced a scapegoat, while saying that he believed it was part of a larger conspiracy. Harper always blamed others and never himself. And far as I'm concerned he got away with murder...

Simon said...

hi MC...keep this nonsense up and I really will start to believe you are one of the voices in Ezra Levant's head. Monsef was born in a war zone, I find her story totally credible. And it's absurd to compare her case to a case of political corruption in the office of a Canadian prime minister...

Simon said...

hi anon...well let's not clear Duffy completely, because he is an old scoundrel. And the only reason he got off is that the Senate had no rules. But if he was charged, Wright should also have been charged, and the RCMP's reason he wasn't is simply beyond belief...

Simon said...

hi anon...yes, I don't know why Paulson is still there, for I'm sure there are many RCMP officers who could do a better job than he has done. But all I can say is that Justin Trudeau better watch his back, and no it's not reassuring...

e.a.f. said...

At least we now know. Seems like the RCMP decided who would wear this and who wouldn't. Nice to see things haven't changed in Canada. They let the one with all the money off and the guy who had less money got charged.

Both of then out to have been charged, but then, Wright might have made the deal to turn on Harper and that would not have been a good thing fro the perspective of the RCMP.

In the end, justice prevailed and Duffy did not go to jail. You do have to wonder which Con cabinet minister went and had a chat with Paulson. The whole matter stank then and it still has a stench to it. Perhaps Paulson was just doing a favour for his boss Harper. So much for justice.

I believe Paulson is still in his job because they don't have anyone to replace him with. Better the devil you know than........

Unknown said...

Hi MC,
Nicely done use of the false equivalence. Use of the Sun as a reference though...

Many Canadians have ambiguous origins. Is that why you prefer to stay Anonymous?