Outside audit into wayward Senate expenses cost taxpayers almost $530,000

OTTAWA – Holding allegedly free-spending senators accountable now has a price tag, and it’s a whopper.

The independent audit of Sen. Pamela Wallin’s expenses has cost taxpayers $390,058, more than double the amount of ineligible expenses which she was required to pay back.

It also more than twice the amount charged by auditors Deloitte and Touche to review the expense claims of senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, and now-retired Liberal Mac Harb.

The audit into their living allowances and expenses cost $138,784.

It is the latest wrinkle in the Senate spending scandal, which has gripped Ottawa for months and comes as the upper chamber is poised to vote next week on a motion to suspend Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau.

The audit costs are found in a routine Senate document listing contracts over $10,000.