Article content

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff, Nigel Wright, orchestrated a plot to end the scandal over Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses by secretly funding Duffy’s repayments so it would look as though the senator was in the wrong, Duffy’s lawyer argued at his criminal trial on Wednesday.

If so, replied the forensic accountant the RCMP hired to comb through Duffy’s finances, Wright was really bad at it.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Mike Duffy trial testimony dips into Nigel Wright's $90K payment Back to video

Donald Bayne had just begun cross-examining Mark Grenon on his findings. Answering questions from Crown attorney Jason Neubauer earlier, Grenon had testified that over Duffy’s years in the Senate his finances deteriorated and he was supporting himself and his wife by borrowing against the value of his Kanata house.

That, in the Crown’s theory, gave Duffy a reason for the alleged frauds in his living expenses, travel claims and Senate contracting that he’s now on trial for.

Grenon also made the first real foray, in the trial’s 35th day, into what former chief of staff Wright did and when.