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The Senate could face lengthy court battles to recoup thousands of dollars from senators who are about to be named for wrongful expense claims because many of them have already retired.

The upcoming auditor general’s audit is expected to conclude that a group of between five and 10 senators are in the most trouble over their expenses. But Senate sources with knowledge of what the auditors have found say the majority of these have left the red chamber.

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Unlike the situation with sitting senators, the Senate has no mechanism to garnishee their pay, since they are no longer receiving a salary. So far, there is also no way to claw back their pensions – although a private member’s bill stuck at second reading in the Senate would do just that if passed before the end of June.

That means that if the Senate wants to recoup expenses flagged by the auditor general – in a few cases the total is believed to be more than $100,000 – it likely would have to sue the offenders. That process could be lengthy, and given that the RCMP might also investigate the expense claims, costly.