Mike Duffy is my father, Peruvian woman claims in a lawsuit

BeleagueredSenator Mike Duffy faced fresh controversy Tuesday after Maclean's magazine published an interview with a Peruvian woman who claims to be his daughter.

The magazine reported that the woman, Karen Duffy, was born to Duffy after an affair with a convicted Peruvian drug smuggler who served time at a Kingston, Ont., prison.

The Maclean's story says the alleged affair lasted for a few months in the early 1980s while her mother was on parole at an Ottawa halfway house.

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The 32-year-old woman told the magazine thatshe and her mother tried to reach out to the journalist-turned-senator over the past few decades, with no response. Karen ultimately decided to file a lawsuit in Peruvian court, determined to receive acknowledgement that Duffy is her biological father.

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Karen, who has a family of her own, said she is not seeking money in the lawsuitand only wants "to havea relationship."

"Iwant to meet him. I want him to know me, and share the things that are important to me," the magazine quoted her as saying.

Her claims have not been tested in court.

Duffy, staying far away from the limelight he once occupied, had little to say.

"TheMaclean's story contains untrue allegations, made by a convicted narcotics smuggler, and which go back more than 30 years. I will respond to any legal process from Peru in an appropriate manner. I will have no further comment," he said in a statement to CBC News.

Duffy was suspended without pay from the Senate for two years in late 2013. He is also currently facing an RCMP investigation relating to questionable travel and housing claims the senator made while in office, as well as a $90,000 cheque given to him by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former chief of staff Nigel Wright. Duffy has not been charged with any crime. The RCMP ended its investigation into Wright this past April, clearing him of any criminal wrongdoing.