SA independent MP claims parliamentary privilege to exclude documents from deception trial

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Key evidence in the trial of former Liberal South Australian state MP Fraser Ellis may not be admissible in court due to parliamentary privilege, his lawyer claims.

Independent MP Fraser Ellis was charged a year ago with making more than $18,000 in fraudulent expenses claimsThe prosecutor said a "common sense" approach should be used to include themover his alleged misuse of the Country Members Accommodation Allowance, following an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation.

Mr Ellis is accused of making 78 fraudulent claims for the allowance, totalling more than $18,000 —between May 13, 2018, and June 12, 2020.was delayed until after the state election — which saw the member for Narungga re-elected as an independent with almost 60 per cent of the vote after preferences. Today, the trial was pushed back until August, due to issues with witness availability after the initial trial date clashed with a parliamentary sitting week.Parliamentary privilege gives MPs immunity from legal action when they say or write something in parliament when otherwise they could be sued or charged.

But in this case, it could be used to prevent key evidence — that is, the forms Mr Ellis filled out to claim the allowance — from being permitted in court.were required to table a decade of claims in July 2020Mr Ellis's lawyer, Sam Joyce, today told the Adelaide Magistrates Court that could render the documents inadmissible in court, due to parliamentary privilege.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

 

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So parliamentarians can commit crimes and get away with it because it's their privelage

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