Unblushing Entitlement

"I believe he has lived primarily in the NCR (National Capital Region), and as such was not entitled to collect a housing allowance claiming the residence as secondary.
"The investigation to date has not identified a wife of Harb. He does have children, and on at least one occasion a neighbour saw a woman and two children at the property, but there is no information to date that they actually lived at the residence.
"Some neighbours report that he was seldom seen in the area, and they do not believe he lived there, while another provided information that he is there on weekends.
"Based on the information to date, this home has the appearance of a secondary residence where Harb would go on weekends."
RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton -- Information to Obtain document

Formerly a Liberal Member of Parliament and now a former Senator, Mac Harb will be criminally charged with committing fraud and breach of trust. Relating to his rather cavalierly generous interpretation of Senate expense rules, permitting members whose primary residence is located at least 100 kilometres outside the National Capital Region (Ottawa and environs) to claim secondary residence expenses and per diems within the NCR.

The problem as some might see it, is that the rules were never meant to be bent so out of whack that someone appointed to the Senate on the basis of their high profile public calibre in doing service to the country and the assumption that their presence in the Chamber of Sober Second Thought would leash that service in furthering the country's fortunes through their fealty to that cause, would take advantage to personally enrich themselves.

Which former Liberal Senator Mac Harb appears to have done, to the tune of $230,000 in expenses for 'time spent in the city'. A city where he has owned property for decades. A city where he has lived within his real estate property for decades. Despite which, on appointment to the Senate of Canada, Mr. Harb decided that as Senator Harb he was entitled to give his house and his condominiums secondary designations, naming a near-inhabitable cottage first in Cobden, then another in Westmeath, his primary residences.

Sen. Mac Harb purchased a home in Cobden, Ont. in 2003, which was far enough outside of Ottawa for him to claim a housing expense from the government.

The RCMP investigation into allegations of criminal malfeasance revealed that insurance documents indicated that Senator Harb remained in his Ottawa residence during the week, and his wife and childeren resided in the Cobden home on a full-time basis. But from the narratives resulting from enquiries in the neighbourhood, even that is not certain...other than that the Senator did live in his Ottawa homes.

The allegations are just that, at present. They're contained in a document described as an Information to Obtain, filed to enable the RCMP investigators to obtain a court order to have investigative access to Mr. Harb's banking records. Mr. Harb is no longer in the Senate, having resigned. And he expediently took steps to repay what he owed the Senate for false claims, dropping his original threat to sue for damages to his reputation.