The lawyer for former Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet minister Ed Byrne is concerned about the how long it will take police to investigate the spending scandal at the house of assembly.

Bob Simmonds said Thursday he still has not seen the specific allegations against his client, even though the details of the scandal are public.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is investigating allegations that Byrne and three other politicians overspent their constituency allowances by $1 million.

Police are also looking into questionable payments of $3 million that were made to four companies.

Simmonds said he estimates the police investigation will take about two years. However, he believes the RNC has limited resources to deal with the case because it is also working on other major cases.

Plenty of uncertainty

Simmonds said he has no doubt the investigators will do a thorough job, but his client will be left with a lot of uncertainty in the meantime.

"It puts your life on hold," Simmonds said. "It can be on hold for months and years and that's very difficult to have that strain and stress hanging over your head."

The RNC said it has the resources to complete complex investigations, but Const. Paul Davis said it is impossible to know when the investigation into the spending scandal will be complete.

"It appears it may be a complex investigation," Davis said.

"It requires due diligence. I'm sure that the investigation will start to take shape and maybe some idea on how long it will take to investigate it may be easier to estimate as time goes on."

Court of public opinion

Bob Simmonds said that as the investigation continues, he hopes Byrne will not be tried in the court of public opinion before he gets a chance to defend the allegations.

"Yes these are horrendous allegations — public monies — and that annoys any member of the public that's hard working," Simmonds said.

"Having said that, should we not all have respect for the rule of law and say, 'Let's just sit back, let the investigation be done and let's not make any judgments until we know we are equipped and apprised of all the facts so that everybody gets a fair hearing both in a court, but also in the court of public opinion.'"

Byrne stepped down as the province's natural resources minister in June after Auditor General John Noseworthy's probe found that Byrne had signed and submitted claims for $358,142 during the 2003 and 2004 fiscal years, or more than $326,000 above his $31,500 limit.