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Ferguson said there is enough concern with expense claims from roughly 10 current or former senators to refer their cases to the Mounties for further review.

“That number would be accurate,” Ferguson said. Expenses from approximately 20 other senators also will be flagged in the final report as problematic, he said.

“The total, including those (roughly 10 senators who should be referred to the RCMP) that we will be reporting on is about 30,” he said Tuesday. “A lot of our message around the Senate audit will be talking about accountability and transparency.”

Ferguson’s audit teams have reviewed two years of spending receipts from senators, conducting a line-by-line review of travel spending, phone calls, office contracts and lunch receipts. They’ve even requested details about postage on Christmas cards.

The two-year probe focused on the spending of 117 past and present senators. The most problematic expense claims have been pegged by Senate sources as being worth more than $100,000, with housing and travel claims at the root of concerns.

Some of the roughly 20 senators in the second group have started to repay expense claims.

Ferguson said his office still hasn’t completely finished the audit and doesn’t yet know the exact cost, but said it “is going to be about” the $21 million that has been reported in recent days.

The auditor general will name names in the report and detail findings that have raised concerns of criminality.