Appeal Court to hear former Lt.-Gov.'s royal immunity case
CBC News
Posted: Sep 26, 2012 10:46 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 26, 2012 10:43 PM ET
A Quebec Superior Court judge rejected former lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault's invocation of royal privilege to avoid fraud charges, but the Court of Appeal has agreed to reconsider the matter. (Canadian Press)The Quebec Court of Appeal has agreed to hear the case of former lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault, who tried to invoke royal privilege to have criminal charges against her thrown out.
Thibault is charged with fraud, breach of trust and creating counterfeit documents. The charges related to her time in office, from 1997 to 2007.
The auditors-general of Quebec and Canada concluded in a joint report in 2007 that Thibault was reimbursed for $700,000 in expenses that were not related to her mandate, but Thibault has denied allegations she spent money excessively.
Her lawyer Marc Labelle had argued in Quebec Superior Court that as a representative of the Queen, Thibault enjoyed a special kind of immunity and should not have to go to trial. He asked the court to drop the charges on the little-used legal principle that "the Queen can do no wrong" — in other words, the Crown prosecution cannot prosecute the Crown.
The Superior Court judge refused and ordered Thibault's case to go to trial.
The appeal of that decision will be heard Dec. 12.
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