Senate expense scandal: Pamela Wallin selling New York condo
Senator Pamela Wallin, facing a deadline to pay back her inappropriate expenses, is in the midst of selling her New York condo.
With the deadline looming to pay back her excessive Senate expenses, Pamela Wallin is in the midst of selling her studio condominium in New York.
The condo, described in the real-estate listing as a âfunctional and charming,â 47-square-metre apartment, carries a $349,000 (U.S.) selling price â $30,000 less than Wallin paid to buy it in 2005.
The listing has been up since June, but it now says the property has been âin contractâ since August, which means that a potential sale is under way.
The condominium is part of Plaza Towers, on E. 60th St., between Lexington and Park avenues.
âPlaza Towers is a proper, âWhite Gloveâ Coop with 24/7 doorman, full-time concierge, covered circular driveway, storage bins and bicycle room,â the ad boasts.
The listing also features photos of the âhigh-endâ renovation and dĂŠcor inside the condo â granite countertops and âampleâ shelves that also help hide away a convenient Murphy bed. New York property records show that Wallin paid $379,000 for the apartment in June, 2005.
Earlier this year, Wallin told the Star she rarely used the apartment: âI have for many years owned a small bachelor apartment in New York for personal use, which is infrequent given my workload,â she said.
Wallin has until Sept. 16 to pay back tens of thousands of dollars ininappropriate expenses she charged to the Senate in the five years since Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed her to the chamber.
Auditors and a subsequent Senate committee probe found that Wallin owed $138,969 in all. So far, she has paid back $38,000, though she has also said that the audit was âfundamentally flawed and unfair.â
Wallin bought the condominium in June 2005, toward the end of her term as Canadaâs consul-general in New York â an appointment she received from former prime minister Jean Chretien.
In a 2006 interview, when her consular term was up, she said she was looking forward to spending part of her time in New York as a special adviser on Canadian affairs to The Americas Society. âIâm really going to enjoy being a civilian in New York for a change,â Wallin told the Ottawa Citizen.
Neither Wallin nor the New York real-estate agent in charge of the listing replied to queries on Tuesday about the condo sale.
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