REGINA (Staff) — The preliminary hearing for a Saskatchewan NDP MLA charged with fraud was adjourned after an unusual move by the defence.
Morris Bodnar, lawyer for Quill Lakes MLA Murray Koskie, said all provincial judges should disqualify themselves from the case because they are suing the province over a pay dispute and may be biased.
Provincial court justice Joseph Flynn adjourned the case until Sept. 6.
Koskie, an MLA since 1975, was charged last year with two counts of breach of trust and two counts of fraud over $1,000 after allegedly submitting false claims under his communications allowance.
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Meanwhile, Tory MLA Gerald Muirhead waived his right to a preliminary hearing earlier this month. He appeared in provincial court July 12 on one charge of breach of trust and one of fraud.
The charges were laid last year and relate to the purchase of a saddle through Muirhead’s communication allowance.
A former PC MLA, Lorne McLaren, was also charged recently with fraud, theft and breach of trust. He, along with a former PC caucus employee, was charged in connection with the alleged misuse of more than $830,000 in PC MLA expense allowances between 1987 and 1991.
