OTTAWA 鈥� The Mounties have charged former Liberal senator Mac Harb and suspended former Tory senator Patrick Brazeau with fraud and breach of trust. They aren't the only senators to have run afoul of the law or the rules in recent years. Here's a look at some others:
Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin are both former broadcasters appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They were suspended last December, along with Brazeau, amid questions about the propriety of their expenses. They remain under investigation by the RCMP.
听Raymond Lavigne was a Liberal MP appointed to the Senate by Jean Chretien in 2002. In August 2007, the RCMP charged Lavigne with fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice. In March 2011, he was convicted of fraud and breach of trust and acquitted on the third charge, and resigned from the Senate shortly after. He was sentenced to six months in jail.
Michel Cogger was a Quebec businessman, lawyer and senior Conservative political adviser who was named to the Senate by Brian Mulroney in 1986. In 1991, Cogger was charged with influence peddling. He was acquitted in 1993 but in 1997 the Supreme Court of sa国际传媒 ordered a new trial which led to Cogger's conviction in 1998. He appealed his sentence and eventually received an absolute discharge. He resigned from the Senate in 2000.
Eric Berntson was a Saskatchewan Conservative politician and deputy premier who was named to the Senate by Mulroney in 1990 as one of the eight extra senators appointed to push the GST through the upper chamber. In 1999, Berntson was convicted of illegally diverting provincial government allowances between 1987 and 1991. He was sentenced to a year in prison and resigned from the Senate in 2001 after his final appeal failed.
