Pia Akerman reports from the Craig Thomson hearing today
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Mr Thomson's Barrister Greg James SC submission on behalf of Mr Thomson is quoted in today's report by Pia Akerman:
Mr James has said Mr Thomson would not be disputing anything other than whether he had the authority to use the cards.
Pia filed this report for today's online version of The Australian. Here are a couple of paragraphs:
A VICTORIAN magistrate has urged prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Craig Thomson to reconsider their insistence that the former Labor MP admit to the facts of his alleged credit card misuse.
Mr Thomson, who lost his seat at the September election after becoming an independent, is due to face a hearing in December on 173 criminal charges alleging he misused union funds while he was national secretary of the Health Services Union.
Senior Crown prosecutor Michele Williams SC has been adamant Mr Thomson's offer to provide an agreed list of "undisputed facts" under section 191 of the Victorian Evidence Act is unsatisfactory, insisting that he instead make an admission to the facts under section 184 instead.
The disagreement has seen expectations for what was to be a five-day hearing blow out possibly into next year, with over a hundred witnesses to be called.
Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg today warned that numerous witnesses would be called unless the parties agreed on the issue and told Ms Williams he couldn't see any difference between the two sections other than that an admission under section 184 could be used against Mr Thomson in other proceedings.
"I strongly urge you, Ms Williams, to reconsider your position," he said.
"I can see the way things are going. I'm not getting too optimistic."