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Trial Of Sen. Mike Duffy Moves Into Final Stages As Lawyers Sum Up The Case

The Canadian Press, 22 Feb, 2016 11:01 AM

OTTAWA — Final submissions are underway at Sen. Mike Duffy's fraud, breach of trust and bribery trial.

Crown prosecutor Mark Holmes is focusing on what he calls a slush fund, Senate money paid by Duffy to a friend's company that was then used to pay for all manner of the senator's expenses.

Holmes alleges the fund was set up to deliberately skirt Senate expense rules.

Duffy's defence has been that those rules were complex and Senate administration lax in its enforcement.

But Holmes says the Senate did the best it could with the claims Duffy presented and the Crown noted it had rejected some of those claims.

Those rejections, Holmes says, led Duffy to set up the fund.

Duffy has pleaded not guilty to all 31 charges against him.

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