OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper stepped into the Senate spending controversy Wednesday, defending Senator Pamela Wallin against mounting questions about her travel expenses, even though an outside audit of her claims is ongoing.

Harper was forced to answer for his high-profile Senate appointee against NDP attacks after revelations her expenses were under the microscope.

The prime minister told the Commons that he had personally reviewed Wallin’s travel claims and that they appeared in line with other politicians.

“I have looked at the numbers. Her travel costs are comparable to any parliamentarian travelling from that particular area of the country over that period of time,” Harper said.

Wallin, who represents Saskatchewan in the Senate, was swept up in the spending controversy after revealing that outside auditors were reviewing her travel expenses.

However, a key official in the upper chamber says Canadians may never know the outcome of that independent probe being done by Deloitte.

“We’re not interested in making those public,” said Conservative Senator David Tkachuk, chairman of the Senate’s committee on internal economy, budgets and administration.

“If there’s something that will have some impact on the public business, then they will be public. Otherwise, there’s no point to it,” he said.

Tkachuk said the audit is underway and that he didn’t know what the results were. Asked if Wallin had repaid any expenses, he replied, “no.”

“I don’t have an agenda on Senator Wallin. Senator Wallin is a distinguished senator and there’s an audit being done on her expenses. That’s all there is too it,” he said in an interview.

While Wallin claims to live in Saskatchewan, published travel expenses suggest she may not be visiting very often.

Over a two-year period ending last November, Wallin claimed only $29,423 for expenses to travel between Ottawa and Saskatchewan, a category billed as “regular” travel. In one quarter, she claimed no expenses for Saskatchewan trips and in another she claimed just $90.

By comparison, some of her Senate colleagues from Saskatchewan have claimed upwards of $200,000 for travel back to the prairie province.

However, Wallin is one of the big spenders for travel to other parts of Canada and around the globe, claiming $321,027.

Senate communications staff refused repeated requests by the Star to get clarification on the expense categories.

Wallin blames the Senate accounting rules, saying only direct flights between Ottawa and a senator’s home province are counted as regular travel. Instead, she says she often flies to Saskatchewan from other parts of the country, including Toronto where she owns a condo.

“If I fly through Toronto and overnight there en route to Saskatchewan it is booked as ‘other’ travel. That why numbers are distorted,” Wallin said in a statement to the Star.

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Wallin suggested that Deloitte has not asked her to repay any money and that had she offered. But she did not respond to questions about whether she had already repaid money directly to the government.

In the Commons, NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus raised questions about whether Wallin’s primary residence is actually in Saskatchewan, as required by Senate rules, or Toronto.

“The growing Senate scandal now includes Pamela Wallin, who racked up massive travel bills, often to Toronto, when she claims to live in a cabin at Fishing Lake, Saskatchewan,” Angus told MPs.

“I looked at the land title for that cabin and it lists as its owner Ms. Pamela Wallin of Palmerston Avenue in Toronto,” Angus told MPs. “Is she the senator for Saskatchewan or for the Annex?”

Three other Senators are also being investigated by Deloitte for claiming housing expenses in the nation’s capital.

Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, who represents Prince Edward Island, Independent Patrick Brazeau (Quebec) and Liberal Mac Harb (Ontario) have claimed their principal residence is outside the national capital region, entitling them to housing allowances of up to $22,000 a year.

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said Wednesday it’s time the RCMP looked at the questionable spending practices by a handful of senators.

“Any time there’s a question of breach of law, it’s to be left to the police, of course,” Mulcair said after his party’s weekly caucus meeting.

“We think that in the interest of all Canadians, we have to reassure the public that the law applies equally to everyone.”

He said he doubts the public will “ever get a straight answer” from the Senate, another reason why what he called “a relic from another era” should scrapped altogether.

With files from Tonda MacCharles

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