Suspended Senator Mike Duffy arrives at the courthouse for his trial in Ottawa, Friday, April 17, 2015. By David Reevely
Mike Duffy’s criminal trial took a sharp turn Tuesday, with the co-owner of a company the Senate had hired to do political consulting for Duffy’s office testifying that it was “100-per-cent” a construction firm.
Matthew Donohue is the son of Gerald Donohue, the old friend of Duffy’s whose name was on the contracts. He knew his father was working with Duffy on something for the Senate but had no idea what it was.
As far as the Senate was concerned, it was $65,000 worth of consulting work, especially writing and editing.
Crown prosecutors say it was a fraud, in which Gerald Donohue did little real work and instead parcelled cash out to people who did jobs for the now-suspended senator but whom he didn’t want to pay through the usual Senate process.
Gerald Donohue had no ownership stake in Maple Ridge Media, his son testified. (The company was co-owned by Matthew and his mother Gail, Matthew said.) Gerald wasn’t an employee or corporate officer and didn’t have cheque-signing authority, though numerous cheques have been filed as evidence with Gerald Donohue’s signature on them.
The contracts cover the first set of the 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery that the Crown is working through.
What we’ll hear aboutMatthew Donohue only answered questions from Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes on Tuesday. Wednesday, Duffy’s defence lawyer, Donald Bayne, gets to cross-examine him and fill in gaps in ways that might support the defence theory that while Duffy’s practices may have been questionable, they weren’t fraudulent.
The Crown has previously presented witnesses who got paid by Gerald Donohue for work they did for Duffy, from a personal trainer to a speechwriter to an office intern, and has at least one more to go. Testimony is also expected from people who handled payments to Donohue from the Senate’s side.
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