Mike on Crime

THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A former Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet minister was sentenced Wednesday to 22 months in jail and ordered to pay $144,000 in restitution for his role in the province’s constituency allowance spending scandal.

Jim Walsh, once a prominent Liberal, was convicted last month of fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust.

Walsh is among four former politicians from all parties to be ensnared in a scheme that shook political foundations in the province.

Crown attorney Frances Knickle argued for a jail term of at least 18 months. She also asked that Walsh be ordered to repay a total of $144,000 in restitution, a request provincial court Judge David Orr granted.

“There is no evidence of remorse,” Knickle said in court.

But Walsh’s defence lawyer, Vernon French, said his client should get a sentence of six to nine months for overspending his constituency allowance by $159,317. Walsh has already repaid about $40,000 and is contributing $2,500 a month in deductions from his pension, French said.

At 60, Walsh has been forced into bankruptcy, his reputation is in ruins and his family has suffered, French said..

“The future is not bright.”

French stressed that his client co-operated throughout a 27-day trial, providing bank documents and cheques to “move this matter along.”

Walsh was also given two years of probation.

He was acquitted on a charge of influence peddling after the judge cited a lack of credible evidence.

Anderson and Byrne were sentenced to 15 months and two years less a day in jail, respectively. Collins is to be sentenced Jan. 15.

In 2006, the provincial auditor general raised alarms about $1 million in spending by the four men from their taxpayer-funded constituency allowances. Such funds are meant for expenses such as office rentals, supplies and miscellaneous services such as research.

Bill Murray – the legislature’s former director of financial operations and lone bureaucrat charged in the scandal – is to appear in Newfoundland’s Supreme Court on Jan. 26.

He was suspended from his duties in 2006 and faces charges of influence peddling, fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust by a public officer.

St. John’s businessman John Hand has also been charged with fraud over $5,000, influence peddling and breach of probation.