OTTAWA—The Senate will ask the RCMP to review the expense claims of Sen. Mike Duffy — and the $90,172 cheque he received from Nigel Wright — after a second look at his books suggested a pattern of abuse.

The Senate committee on internal economy, budgets and administration held a rare open-door meeting Tuesday evening to hear how a closer look at the living and travel allowances claimed by Duffy revealed that things may be worse than they initially feared.

The embattled senator was the one who had called for the committee meetings investigating his expense claims to be held in public, but his chair remained empty.

Chief among the new details that came to light were 49 days between April 2011 and March 2012 when Duffy claimed to be on Senate business in Ottawa — claiming a per diem to cover his mortgage payments, meals and incidentals — when a review by auditors at Deloitte concluded he was actually outside the city.

They included a dozen days for which Duffy had claimed a daily allowance of $87.55 while in Florida, which the senator blamed on a clerical error by a temporary worker when the Deloitte review flagged it as inappropriate, but the Senate administration decided the presence of many other days pointed to a bigger problem.

“The review leads to a conclusion that the Deloitte’s finding in relation to per diems claimed in January 2012 when the Senator was in Florida is not an isolated incident, but represents a pattern that raises concerns,” Gary O’Brien, the committee clerk, said as he briefed senators on the findings.

Senators on the committee also voted unanimously to ask police to look into how Duffy came to reimburse the government for the $90,172 in improperly claimed expenses — now known to have been with the help of a personal cheque from Wright, who has since stepped down as chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper — in its referral to the authorities.

The committee also agreed to essentially restore its report on Duffy to its original form, to include strong language about the clarity of the rules surrounding primary and secondary residences and eligibility for expenses.

Two Conservative senators had earlier moved to soften its language to reflect the fact that Duffy had already paid the money back.

Regarding Duffy’s expenses, O’Brien noted Deloitte had issued a caveat related to whether Duffy, who refused to meet the auditors or provide additional information requested, was the only person who used the mobile telephone they used to establish his whereabouts.

The findings also confirmed Duffy was billing taxpayers for expenses during the 2011 election, even claiming living expenses for time spent in Ottawa on six days when he was actually out of town and on the campaign trail.

Elections Canada records show Duffy, who represents Prince Edward Island, was also reimbursed by Conservative campaigns — both local and central — for his expenses on at least five of those days for appearances in the Northwest Territories and the Greater Toronto Area.

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The committee also heard Duffy had his lunch and incidentals — through a partial per diem claimed through travel expenses — paid for by the government on another day, April 21, 2011, after flying from Moncton to Ottawa.

Elections Canada records show Duffy had spent at least part of that day campaigning in Nova Scotia with Conservative MP Scott Armstrong and billed his campaign $409.91 for related expenses.

The committee heard Duffy actually received payment for just 25 of those 49 days, which raised questions about why Senate administration did not detect the pattern of suspicious claims earlier.

Eighteen of those daily living allowance claims submitted for August 2011 were rejected, the Senate administration revealed, because Duffy had simultaneously submitted a travel claim for time spent in P.E.I., proving he could not have been in Ottawa.

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