Wright cites Scripture as reason for $90,000 'good deed' for Duffy

OTTAWA — Mike Duffy's lawyer, Donald Bayne, tore into Nigel Wright during cross-examination Thursday, suggesting the prime minister's former chief of staff created a "deliberately deceptive scenario" for Canadians.

Bayne peppered Wright with questions all morning Thursday, maintaining that a "scheme" was orchestrated inside the Prime Minister's Office to push Duffy to repay his expenses.

Duffy's lawyer said his client believed the expenses were justified.

"I thought Sen. Duffy was better off, much better off, with people believing he had repaid," Wright told court.

"You could make that decision for him, even though he didn't want to be part of this?" Bayne replied.

"I didn't make that decision for him," Wright said. "He made the decision.... I put pressure on Sen. Duffy, he agreed to it."

Wright also told court he didn't think the repayment plan would be seen "as a scheme."

"I thought it may come out that I paid," Wright said. "I just thought the important thing was (that) the expenses... be reimbursed."

Wright said he was trying to quietly do a "good deed" when he gave Duffy $90,000, then privately notified the prime minister's director of issues management.

Wright, a devoutly religious man, also told court he was following the advice of a Bible passage that counsels "righteousness," but warns against doing it in front of others for the sake of self-aggrandizement.

"This is sort of Matthew 6, right?" he told court, citing Scripture.

"You should do those things quietly, and 'not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.'"

It's the second day on the stand for Wright, who has travelled from London, England, to testify as the Duffy trial's star witness.

Wright said he decided to give Duffy the money after the original plan to see the Conservative party cover the bill — believed initially to be $32,000 — fell through when the cost suddenly soared to more than $90,000.

"I came to that decision, I think, in a day or two after that I understood that the Conservative fund would not pay," Wright said.

Wright said he felt he needed to inform Chris Woodcock, the director of issues management inside the Prime Minister's Office, about where the money actually came from.

"As director of issues management, Chris was responsible for a team that would be involved in preparing responses to questions and inquires we'd receive, mostly from the media," he testified.

"I thought Chris needed to know this piece of information just in case he would approve an answer on something that would be wrong because he didn't know it was fact."

Wright also said his view was Sen. Duffy had an arguable case on his expense filings in technical terms, but told court he doesn't think he concluded that Duffy did not legally owe the money back.