CALGARY—The man who holds the purse strings of the Conservative Party of Canada has publicly contradicted statements Nigel Wright’s lawyers made to the RCMP about the controversial payments to cover Mike Duffy’s expenses.

The comments Saturday by Sen. Irving Gerstein, chair of Conservative Fund Canada, were offered “to clarify” the issue, but they raise even more questions about exactly what went on.

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Gerstein and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was in the audience at the Conservative party national convention, left without speaking to reporters afterward.

Gerstein told 3,000 delegates that he had refused to defray Duffy’s “disputed” bills — a notion that is odds with a claim in RCMP documents that the party was prepared to pay up to $32,000, but balked when informed the amount had reached $90,000.

But Gerstein did admit the fund forked out $12,000 plus tax to cover Duffy’s legal bills without saying why he felt that was justified if the expenses were “disputed.” He simply portrayed it as common practice among all parties, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper did last week.

Wright's lawyer Peter Mantas said in an emailed reply to the Star that: “Mr. Wright has no comment at this time to this latest characterization of events.”

Mike Duffy told the Senate last week the party gave him a cheque from a Conservative lawyer for his legal expenses, amounting to $13,560.

On Saturday, Gerstein — who took no questions from the delegates, either — said: “First, I made it absolutely clear to Nigel Wright (then the prime minister’s chief of staff) that the Conservative Fund of Canada would not pay for Sen. Duffy’s disputed expenses, and it never did.”

The statement prompted a standing ovation.

“Second, at the request of Nigel Wright, the fund did agree to pay legal fees limited to amounts of $12,000 plus HST because at the time Sen. Duffy was a member of the Conservative caucus, and as you know the fund sometimes assists caucus members with legal expenses, as do other parties,” Gerstein continued.

However, the RCMP affidavit filed June 24 by Cpl. Greg Horton, in support of a court order to get documents related to the Duffy-Wright investigation, lays out a very different scenario.

Citing information provided by Wright’s lawyers Pat McCann and Peter Mantas, the RCMP said: “The Conservative Party was initially going to pay the money for Duffy, from a Conservative fund, when it was believed that the amount he owed was approximately $32,000. The fund is controlled by Senator Gerstein.

“When it was realized that the cost was actually $90,000, it was too much money to ask the Conservative Party to cover.”

The issue of why the party would be prepared to pay $32,000 has never been publicly addressed by Gerstein or Harper. But the outside audit commissioned by the Senate did find that Duffy claimed some travel-related expenses for days when he was actually engaged in partisan or election campaign activities.

“Wright then offered to cover the cost for Duffy, believing it was the proper ethical decision that taxpayers not be out that amount of money,” the RCMP document said.

Wright further advised the RCMP that he told Gerstein and three people in the Prime Minister’s Office of his intention to personally make the payment: Wright’s executive assistant, David van Hemmen; the prime minister’s counsel, Benjamin Perrin; and PMO issues management director Chris Woodcock.

As for Gerstein’s characterization of Duffy’s “disputed” expenses, the RCMP says Wright’s lawyers advised in a letter that Wright, at the time he made the payment to Duffy “was unaware of any fraudulent expense claims on Duffy’s part.”

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Gerstein boasted in his speech to the delegation that the Conservative fund was in better shape than any other party’s war chest.

He said the party was debt-free and flush with $14 million in the bank — even after the party transferred another $2.8 million to local riding association coffers under a revenue-sharing program.

Gerstein added the Conservative party’s funds now draw on a much wider supporter base than any of its predecessor parties: fully 70 per cent of its donations come from people who never donated to the former Progressive Conservatives, Canadian Alliance or Reform party.

In all, he said, the party is still out-fundraising its opponents, with the first nine months of this year bringing in $12.8 million, a $610,000 increase over the same time last year.

London West MP Ed Holder said the report from Gerstein appeared to be well received by delegates at his table, saying, “I don’t think anybody wants to whitewash this whole thing.”

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