Criminal charges stayed in Sudbury Liberal byelection scandal
Posted April 27, 2016 12:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Charges in a byelection scandal in Sudbury, Ont., have been stayed against a veteran Liberal fundraiser, but a separate bribery investigation is ongoing.
Gerry Lougheed had been charged with one count of counselling an offence not committed and one count of unlawfully influencing or negotiating appointments. Police had alleged Lougheed offered a would-be Liberal candidate for a byelection last year a job or appointment to step aside for Premier Kathleen Wynne’s preferred candidate.
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But today those charges were stayed, meaning they are effectively dropped, though the Crown can choose to reactivate them within a year.
Premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking at an unrelated event in Brantford, Ont., says she thinks it is a good outcome and she is pleased. However, the Ontario Provincial Police are still investigating Lougheed and Wynne’s deputy chief of staff’s byelection conduct under the Election Act, after Elections Ontario found an “apparent contravention” of a section of the act concerning bribery.
Lougheed’s lawyer, Michael Lacy, says his client is relieved, but the charges are still hanging over his head.
Lougheed had maintained he was not guilty.
