The Prime Minister’s Office and RCMP are at a bypass over the February 20 email disgraced Senator Mike Duffy wrote to receive compensation for his fraudulent housing allowance claims with former Chief of Staff Nigel Wright.

A new document reveals the Conservative party wanted to pay disgraced senator Mike Duffy’s owing in a bid to cover up his scandal. The documents obtained by the RCMP and obtained by CTV show the Conservative Party would have cut the $90,000 cheque former Chief of Staff Nigel Wright did.

The Alberta floods weren’t without its controversy – from a PMO that tends to get itself deeper into problems every time it acts on something. The PMO ordered the RCMP return guns that officers took from the abandoned homes of High River as a standard safety procedure to prevent crimes in the wake of disaster.

The RCMP announced it is looking into whether it will launch a criminal investigation into the Duffy affair but added it will not make such a decision public. Assistant Commissioner of the new National Division Gilles Michaud said they are is looking at the evidence it has obtained and insists it will resist pressure from Public Safety Minister Vic Toews who was mandated to monitor and regulate its activities.

The Senate’s Internal Economy committee has unanimously sent senator Mike Duffy’s expense claims to the RCMP for investigation last night. The motion came from Conservative Senator Larry Smith after the committee heard a report from Senate Clerk Gary O’Brien which revealed a pattern of living expense claims in Ottawa while working on senate business outside the capital. This comes after days of relentless pounding from the opposition and Liberal Senators who asked for this days ago.

With the Duffy affair digging deeper into the public sphere, the public and many opposition MPs and senators have called for the investigation to be handed over to the RCMP. However, an independent agency with the mandate of enforcing the law may be tainted with political interference after the Conservatives mandated Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to oversee the agency’s operations.

Former RCMP Superintendent Gery Clement told CTV’s Question Period Sunday that he sees “strong grounds” for criminal charges, pointing to fraud or, “more appropriately,” breach of trust charges under the Criminal Code as possible avenues for investigators looking into the Duffy affair. However, how independent is the RCMP? New government policies oversee its actions.

On May 16, the RCMP sent a letter to the senate requesting a series of documents they need to investigate the expense claims of senators Mac Harb, Mike Duffy or Patrick Brazeau. Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella confirmed today the RCMP’s anti-corruption unit is looking into the affair. The results of the investigation will determine if there are grounds for a criminal investigation.

While the NDP made a national statement asking the RCMP to investigate the dealings between former chief of staff Nigel Wright and former Conservative senator Mike Duffy, the senate debated what to do with the case. Conservative senators overwhelmingly rejected Liberal calls to bring in the RCMP in favor of sending it back to the same committee that whitewashed the first audit.

The NDP are calling for a probe into the $90,172 cheque former Chief of Staff Nigel Wright gave disgraced former Conservative senator Mike Duffy in the midst of a senate spending scandal. The scandal has since evolved, particularly since CTV learned that Duffy’s actions were linked to an agreement that saw the government cover up his fraudulent housing allowance claims.