OTTAWA— Prime Minister Stephen Harper clung Wednesday to an RCMP investigator’s preliminary finding there was “no evidence” he had detailed knowledge of an elaborate PMO plan to repay Mike Duffy’s Senate expenses, whitewash an audit, and tone down a Senate investigation.

But the RCMP affidavit released by an Ottawa courthouse Wednesday is far from validation of Harper’s insistence for months the repayment was “solely” the responsibility of Harper’s former chief of staff Nigel Wright and Duffy.

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In fact, it suggests Wright got Harper’s approval for an initial plan that would have seen Conservative party funds cover about $32,000 in Duffy’s expenses — a plan that later fell apart when the bill ran up to $90,000.

Overall, the RCMP paints a damning picture of a massive, lengthy, and all-consuming effort by the prime minister’s top aides, party fundraising officials, and the government’s Senate leadership to contain an “embarrassing” scandal and stop Duffy from spiralling beyond their control.

The Mounties suggest the executive branch of the Conservative government tried to exert influence on a Senate subcommittee to tone down criticism of Duffy’s housing claims, and on audit firm Deloitte to halt its probe of Duffy altogether, or at least steer clear of assessing Duffy’s residency qualifications that were at the heart of the controversy.

Duffy feared losing his seat; the PMO “found the situation embarrassing and wanted it to be resolved,” says the RCMP.

The affidavit was sworn by lead investigator Corporal Greg Horton to get judicial authorization to obtain more documents from both the Senate and Duffy’s bank accounts.

Horton says there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Duffy and Wright committed Criminal Code offences, namely bribery, fraud on the government and breach of trust, using their offices “for a dishonest purpose, other than for the public good.” The alleged crimes result from striking the deal for Wright to cover Duffy’s $90,000 in housing and related costs.

Lawyers for the PMO and Duffy negotiated long and hard over Duffy’s demands that his Senate eligibility wouldn’t be challenged, the audit would be toned down, and a Senate report would clear him, all in exchange for agreeing to pay back the money and admit paperwork “mistakes,” the RCMP alleges. Duffy made five demands, including reimbursement for his expenses and legal fees.

Everything must still be proven in court and, so far, no charges have even been laid.

In a statement Wednesday, Nigel Wright declined any interviews, saying only: “My intention was always to secure repayment of funds owed to taxpayers. I acted within the scope of my duties and remain confident that my actions were lawful. I have no further comment at this time.”

On Wednesday, Harper repeatedly told the Commons the RCMP had found “no evidence” he knew of the Wright repayment deal.

What the RCMP said, however, was that Harper was informed by his staff they were working on a plan to have Duffy repay, and may have been aware that the Conservative Fund would pay Duffy’s legal bill, but it noted “details of what he (Wright) discussed with the prime minister are not contained in the emails.”

“I have seen no evidence to suggest that the prime minister was personally involved in the minutiae of those matters,” states Horton.

But the potentially bigger political problem for Harper and his Conservative government is that the RCMP has detailed a much deeper, hands-on involvement by the PMO than was previously outlined or acknowledged by the prime minister.

Harper insisted anew Wednesday he knew nothing. But he no longer claimed his office was out of the loop.

In fact, the document quotes Wright emails that suggest Harper had some knowledge of what was unfolding.

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As Wright and other top prime ministerial aides were trying to nail down details of the repayment, Wright tells them on Feb. 22, “I do want to speak to the PM before everything is considered final.” Less than an hour later, he follows up with another email, “We are good to go from the PM.”

Nearly two months later, when the PMO press office is seeking a response to a reporter’s queries, Wright says in a May 14 email: “The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses.”

Duffy said publicly he got an RBC loan to cover the amount, without indicating the funds were replaced by Wright’s transfer payment.

Harper maintained Wednesday he learned of the truth of Wright’s role on May 15, after CTV broke the news.

The latest court filing caused an uproar in the Commons Wednesday, where NDP Leader Tom Mulcair demanded to know what exactly Harper approved after Wright consulted him that Feb. 22 night.

“Good to go, with what?” asked Mulcair.

“Good to go with Mr. Duffy repaying his own expenses,” Harper said.

Mulcair ridiculed Harper’s previous assertion to Parliament on May 28 that “he ‘never gave any instruction to his staff on how to handle the Duffy scandal.’

“But we now know from court documents that Nigel Wright went to the prime minister for approval of the deal. Why did the prime minister say something to Parliament that he knew was not true?”

In the RCMP’s summary of the whole affair, Duffy comes off as a wheedling, whining friend-turned-foe of the Conservative government that appointed him. The investigator says he believes it was Duffy’s demands of the PMO made through his lawyer that got the whole thing rolling.

Duffy argued repeatedly with Wright, according to Wright’s account to police, that “he was entitled to his entitlements.”

The Conservative Party’s Sen. Irving Gerstein stepped in, unsolicited, to offer to use party funds, and initially agreed to cover $32,000 for Duffy’s expenses. Gerstein’s only worry at first was “optics” and whether Duffy would keep the details confidential. But when it was revealed the tab would hit $90,000, Gerstein was “emphatic” the fund wouldn’t pay, except for legal expenses.

The document reveals Wright asked Gerstein to use his contacts at Deloitte to find out where the Duffy audit stood, and whether brakes could be put on it.

“The PMO asked Senator Gerstein to speak to a contact within Deloitte to see if repayment by Sen. Duffy would result in the audit being halted,” says the RCMP. Gerstein was told that the audit would continue.

On Wednesday, Deloitte rejected concerns raised by the revelation.

“The Senate audit team established an ethical wall to prevent leakage of information and at no time was the ethical wall breached. No information related to the audit was provided to anyone who was not entitled to receive the information,” company spokesperson Vital Adam said.

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