Under pressure from opposition parties, the Liberals have pledged to repay $10,000 billed to taxpayers for the alleged scrubbing of computer hard drives in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s office.

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the move Tuesday in the wake of Ontario Provincial Police revelations about the payment, uncovered in an 18-month probe of deleted documents in the $1.1-billion gas plants scandal.

“In light of this new information the premier has concluded the tax dollars should not have been expended for the work performed,” Wynne spokesperson Zita Astravas said in a seven-paragraph statement.

With HST, the repayment will total $11,017.50.

Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats accused the government of holding back its announcement on the repayment decision — made by the Liberal party’s executive council on Monday — for as long as possible.

“Now they’re hoping nobody notices this when they release this the day before Christmas Eve,” said NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson, who joined Conservative MPP John Yakabuski in charging the repayment proves the alleged wiping of hard drives was a “political action.”

“They did everything they could to destroy the evidence and cover it up,” Bisson said in a statement.

Police have said it’s not known what documents were deleted, but they are searching more computer hard drives in an attempt to find any.

Wynne’s office was keen to distance her administration from the McGuinty era, which ended in February 2013 — just days after Peter Faist, the computer expert spouse of former McGuinty deputy chief of staff Laura Miller, is alleged to have wiped hard drives in the premier’s office.

“We had no information until the release (of an OPP search warrant application) … that any services invoiced by Mr. Faist in fact related to the matters under investigation,” added the statement from Wynne’s office.

“The payment of these funds is in no way intended as prejudgment or comment upon the findings of the ongoing police investigation.”

Police said in a search warrant application that the $10,000 was paid to Faist in an arrangement made through the taxpayer-funded Liberal Caucus Service Bureau. Opposition parties also get taxpayer funding for their caucuses, based on the number of MPPs they have.

The Conservatives and New Democrats pounced on the repayment, saying it links Wynne’s administration to a “coverup” of missing documents explaining how the decision was made to axe power plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election.

“In no way, shape or form does this absolve them,” said Yakabuski, a member of the legislative committee probing the scandal. “The fact they’re repaying this money from Liberal coffers proves this was a political action.”

New Democrats joined the Conservatives in saying the repayment provides fresh ammunition for them to pressure Wynne into allowing Faist and Miller to testify before the legislative committee, as they were slated to before the spring election campaign began.

“It was wrong to wipe computers, no matter who paid the bill,” Bisson said. “The Liberals have never apologized for this continuing coverup.”

Neither Faist nor Miller are subjects of the OPP investigation of breach of trust, centred on former McGuinty chief of staff David Livingston.

Police allege Livingston obtained a special password that allowed Faist — a private contractor who had done work for the Liberal party and caucus — to wipe clean hard drives.

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Livingston, who maintains he did nothing wrong, has not been charged, and the allegations have not been proven in court.

Faist’s lawyer said earlier this year that his client “has done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Opposition parties have long charged the two power plants were chopped as a “seat saver” move to protect five Liberal ridings.

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