OTTAWA—Sen. Patrick Brazeau broke the law by filing inappropriate Senate expense claims, the RCMP alleges in court documents released Thursday.

RCMP Corp. Greg Horton filed a request for internal Senate records in which he alleges Brazeau committed a breach of trust, a criminal offence, in the former Conservative senator’s handling of tens of thousands of dollars in living and travel costs.

Horton says in a sworn affidavit the Mounties’ investigation so far shows that Brazeau did not live in a house he claimed as his primary residence in Maniwaki, Que., although he did sometimes visit there.

Under Senate rules, senators can charge up to $22,000 a year in taxpayer-funded living expenses for a residence in the Ottawa area if their primary residence is at least 100 kilometres away.

In early 2011, Brazeau rented a residence in Gatineau, Que., near Ottawa, but began claiming a primary residence in Maniwaki, which is 135 kilometres from the capital, Horton says in the affidavit.

“The investigation has shown that Brazeau does not live in Maniwaki, nor does he own a home there,” Horton says. “Brazeau’s father resides in Maniwaki, but the senator, since being appointed to the Senate, has not.”

The affidavit says the Mounties interviewed Brazeau’s former girlfriend, neighbours and a shopkeeper in Maniwaki — all of whom indicated the senator did not live there.

Horton notes that it was shortly after Brazeau’s marriage broke up in late 2010 that the senator began putting in questionable expense filings. “It was at this time that he started claiming an allowance for a secondary residence, possibly in an effort to alleviate some of the financial burden as a result of his marriage breakup,” the affidavit says.

“While Brazeau started claiming his father’s residence in Maniwaki as his primary residence, both the upstairs tenant at his father’s house and Brazeau’s ex-girlfriend state that Brazeau did not live there.”

Declaring his primary residence to be at his father’s house “while filing expense claims for a rental home where he actually resided” constitutes a breach of trust in his opinion, Horton says.

Horton also notes the RCMP will do a follow-up investigation of a media report questioning whether Brazeau might have used the address of a former relative on a First Nations community on his income tax form, which might have qualified the senator for aboriginal income tax deductions.

The RCMP wants billing statements, Senate attendance records, expense claims, expense payments and other documents from the Senate to further the probe of Brazeau’s Senate affairs.

Last month, Brazeau was sent a letter from the Senate informing him that 20 per cent of his pay will be reclaimed by the government until he has paid back $48,000 in housing and travel expenses he allegedly claimed inappropriately.

No allegations against Brazeau have been proven in court. On Thursday, Debby Simms, a member of Brazeau’s staff, told the Star he would have no immediate comment on the RCMP document because he needs time to review it. But Simms has previously said Brazeau believes he did nothing wrong. Brazeau believes he followed the expense rules of the Senate at the time and that he is being treated unfairly, Simms said recently. On those grounds, Brazeau has refused to repay the $48,000 demanded by the Senate.

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Brazeau has been on bail since pleading not guilty in February after Gatineau police were summoned to his Gatineau residence for a domestic disturbance. The senator, who faces assault and sexual assault charges, will be back in court in October. After that incident, he dropped out of the Conservative caucus and was put on forced leave by the Senate.

The RCMP has also been conducting investigations of the expense claims of former Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy and former Liberal Sen. Mac Harb. The Mounties are also looking into a $90,000 payment that went from Nigel Wright, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to Duffy to cover the senator’s questionable expense filings.