DECISION NOT TO CHARGE AD AGENCY EXECUTIVE CALLED CORRECT
By Adnews Staff
The Crown prosecuter's office in Regina did the right thing in choosing not to lay charges against Phoenix Advertising vice-president Shelley Selinger in the case of Murray Koskie, a former MLA in Saskatchewan's NDP government who was convicted of fraud last spring. This was the finding of an independent prosecutor brought in to review the case after accusations from opposition parties of of political favoritism. The conclusions of Calgary lawyer Peter Martin's report were released this week. Opposition politicians wanted to know why Phoenix, the Sakskatchwan NDP party's ad agency, wasn't charged with giving kickbacks after evidence came out at Koskie's trial of Selinger's involvement in the fraud. After Koski said to bill the government for advertising that was never done and to send him the proceeds, this was done and Selinger issued the cheque to Koskie. Originally a prosecutor recommended that Selinger be charged with fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and breach of trust. However, after Selinger gave a statement, the Crown decided not to proceed against her. Her statement indicated that the fraud was Koskie's idea and she did not benefit personally from it. Independent investigator Martin, a former Crown prosecutor and president of the Law Society of Alberta, found that the Crown's decision not to charge Selinger was not the result of political pressure. He stressed prosecutors make judgment calls every day "and this is just another case in which they had a tough call to make..."