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...