New fraud charge laid against N.L. bureaucrat

Crown prosecutors in St. John's have laid another charge against a suspended bureaucrat at the centre of a legislative spending scandal.

Crown prosecutor Frances Knickle said Monday that an additional charge of fraud against the government has been laid against Bill Murray, bringing to seven the number of charges that Murray faces.

Murray was suspended as finance director of Newfoundland and Labrador's legislature in June 2006, when Auditor General John Noseworthy began releasing reports about questionable spending at the house of assembly.

Murray had already been charged with three other counts of fraud against the government, which formerly was known as influence peddling. Knickle has said the charges involved what are commonly called kickbacks, or accepting bribes.

Murray also faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and uttering a forged document.

Four former politicians Progressive Conservative Ed Byrne, Liberals Wally Andersen and Jim Walsh, and New Democrat Randy Collins also face charges in thespending scandal.

In a series of reports released through 2006, Noseworthy found that five politicians including Liberal Percy Barrett, whom police did not charge received $1.6 million more than their entitlements in their constituency allowances.

Noseworthy also found that about $2.6 million of untendered payments was spent on trinkets and memorabilia like fridge magnets, lapel pins and embossed gold rings and paid to a handful of companies, one of which was controlled by Murray himself.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is also suing Murray in a civil action for breach of trust. In a statement of defence, Murray has denied any wrongdoing.

None of the accusations against people facing criminal charges has yet been proven in court.

Murray's case, meanwhile, was set over Monday until Feb. 18.

The legislative spending scandal prompted not only a police investigation, but a judicial review that led to anoverhaul of how thehouse of assemblyis managed. Justice Derek Green found that financial controls at the legislature were weak, training was poor and political oversight was shoddy.