18:38
El NACHO
Senator Raymond Lavigne has been found guilty of fraud and breach of trust.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Smith handed down the ruling yesterday, saying Lavigne "committed a false and dishonest act" when he requested $12,365.50 from the Senate for travel actually made by former staffer Michel Gendron, when the true cost had been $2,700.
The judge said he believed the testimony of Gendron, who said Lavigne gave him $50 for return trips from Ottawa to Montreal while the senator personally claimed $217 for the trips.
The judge said he believes Lavigne received more than $9,665.50 for expense claims that were not owed to him.
The judge said he believed another witness, Daniel Côté, who testified Lavigne filed travel claims on his behalf.
The senator was convicted of the breach-of-trust charge for directing Côté to cut trees on his property in Wakefield, while he was paid by the Senate in order to not spend on hiring an external contractor.
The Mounties charged Lavigne in 2007 with fraud over $5,000, breach of trust and obstruction of justice after a yearlong investigation by the Senate.
He was found not guilty yesterday of obstruction of justice.
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