The withdrawal of fraud and breach of trust charges against former senator Mac Harb is a vindication of an honest man, his lawyer said Friday.
鈥淭his was one of the most highly politicized set of charges that we鈥檝e ever seen in Canadian history,鈥� said Sean May, shortly after the Crown formally withdrew the charges.
鈥淢r. Harb is glad that it鈥檚 come to an end, but it鈥檚 been a very difficult process and he鈥檚 innocent. He鈥檚 not guilty. He鈥檚 an honest person, who was unfortunately charged with a series of serious criminal matters.鈥�
A month-long trial had been scheduled for August but in a court submission Friday prosecutor Robert Hubbard wrote that the acquittal of Sen. Mike Duffy on the same charges made it clear 鈥渢hat there is no longer any reasonable prospect of conviction鈥� of Harb.
May said Harb鈥檚 defence team would have sought not only an acquittal, but a declaration of innocence, and said both Harb and his lawyers were ready to go to trial later this summer and mount a defence.
Harb, 62, was not in court Friday but he felt a 鈥済reat sense of relief,鈥� his lawyer said.
"He's very relieved. This is a big day. It's a very momentous decision, it's a vindication of him and it vindicates his position that he's innnocent of charges, that he's committed no wrongdoing but at the same time he's been through an awful lot," May told CTV's Power Play later Friday.
May would not speculate on any future legal recourse for Harb or comment on the Senate process that found his expenses unjustifiable and demanded Harb repay $232,000.
Senate rules allow senators to claim expenses for two homes if their primary residence is more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill. Harb claimed his primary residence was a home just beyond the limit, making him eligible for the annual subsidy of about $22,000.
Harb, a former four-term Liberal MP who was appointed to the senate by former prime minister Jean Chretien, was accused of claiming expenses for a secondary residence in Ottawa, even though he lived primarily in the national capital region. He was charged criminally in February 2014.
May said Friday that his client followed the rules, declared all his expenses and spent 10 years in the Senate with no concerns raised about his practices.
"He's very comfortable with every decision he made and everything he did is above board," May told Power Play.
Hubbard said in the written statement that RCMP charges against Harb were 鈥減roperly laid鈥� but that testimony relied on in Justice Charles Vaillancourt鈥檚 decision in the Duffy case regarding Senate rules around primary residence would also be central in the Harb trial.
Duffy was acquitted last month of 31 charges, including fraud and bribery.
Harb retired from the Senate in 2013, three months before Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau were suspended amid questions about their parliamentary expenses.
The RCMP announced Thursday it would not proceed with charges against Wallin after a three-year review of her travel claims -- a decision her lawyer said came as a relief.
"She is obviously relieved to have this nightmare behind her," lawyer Terrence O'Sullivan told Power Play on Friday.
He noted that no charges have ever been laid against Wallin.
"After a three-year investigation...which they described as thorough, there wasn't enough evidence to lay a single charge," O'Sullivan said.
He added that if the case had gone to trial, Wallin was looking forward to going through her expenses line by line and explaining how they were justified in her role as an "activist senator at the behest of then prime minister Stephen Harper."
As of now, Brazeau鈥檚 criminal trial has been delayed until June 2017, though Brazeau鈥檚 lawyer Christian Deslauriers suggested the Crown might not continue to pursue that case either.
鈥淲e are trying to reach the Crown to find out if they want to go on or not,鈥� Deslaurier told 麻豆影视. 鈥淥bviously my client is eager to find out.鈥�
Brazeau鈥檚 prosecution would be 鈥渁 very tough case for the Crown,鈥� Deslaurier said, adding that 鈥淢r. Harb鈥檚 allegations, to me, were more serious.鈥�
鈥淚t was a more complicated case for the defence, and now they have dropped the charges.鈥�
With files from The Canadian Press
