PART 2: 31 Charges — And Then None ⚖️

 PART 2: 31 Charges — And Then None ⚖️

After investigating the scandal, the RCMP charged Senator Mike Duffy with 31 criminal counts.

These included allegations such as fraud and breach of trust.

The trial began in 2015 and quickly became one of the most closely watched political court cases in Canada.

📂 Hundreds of emails from inside government offices were examined.
📺 Media coverage was constant.
⚖️ Lawyers and prosecutors spent months presenting evidence.

Many Canadians assumed the outcome was already clear.

But in 2016, the judge delivered a stunning decision.

Every single charge was dismissed.

The court ruled that the Senate’s expense rules were vague and confusing, making it extremely difficult to prove that Duffy had knowingly broken the law.

In other words, the problem may not have been just one individual.

The problem may also have been the system itself.

But this raises a question many Canadians still ask today.

If the original issue involved about $90,000, how much public money was spent investigating, prosecuting, and managing the entire scandal?

➡️ In Part 3, we’ll look at that bigger question.