The RCMP has charged Senator Mike Duffy with bribery, frauds on the government and 29 other charges related to Senate expenses, the awarding of consultant contracts and the acceptance of a $90,000 payment by the prime minister's former chief of staff.
The news comes after Duffy's lawyer issued a statement late Wednesday confirming the RCMP planned to lay charges against the suspended Conservative senator.
Donald Bayne, Duffy's lawyer, did not specify what the charges would be, but stressed that his client is "innocent of any criminal wrong-doing."
"We are confident that when the full story is told, as it will be, and shown to be supported by many forms of evidence, it will be clear that Senator Duffy is innocent of any criminal wrong-doing," said Bayne.
The Senate voted last fall to suspend the former Conservative senator from Prince Edward Island as part of an ongoing controversy over disputed living expenses.
The RCMP has been investigating the housing claims and a $90,000 payment made to Duffy by Nigel Wright, Stephen Harper's former chief of staff, so Duffy could pay back the disputed claims.
Court documents filed by the RCMP in October sought banking information for Gerald Donohue, a friend of Duffy's. The investigator alleged Donohue was paid $65,000 over a four-year period by Duffy's Senate office "for little or no apparent work."
The RCMP said in April that no charges would be laid against Wright, who resigned as Harper's right-hand man after it was disclosed he gave Duffy $90,000.
Bayne said the evidence will show Duffy "did not want to participate in Nigel Wright's and the PMO's repayment scenario," which he contends was "concocted for purely political purposes."
Bayne added Duffy "intends to defend fully and fairly and to show that the truth and innocence are on his side."
"Sen. Duffy is thankful that the awful 16 months of waiting through a protracted and highly public police investigation is finally over, and we can move on to an impartial forum and fair hearing," Bayne said, adding the former senator has "never had a fair hearing" in the Senate or in the media.
Bayne also said in his statement that Duffy has undergone a second open-heart surgery since the scandal erupted, and "still has serious heart problems."
Duffy, along with fellow former Conservatives Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin, was suspended from the Senate last November over expense claims.
Liberal Mac Harb resigned from the Senate in August after paying back $231,000 for ineligible housing and travel expenses.
Harb and Brazeau face criminal charges of fraud and breach of trust, while Wallin has not been charged.
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