HALIFAX -- The trial of a member of the Nova Scotia legislature charged with fraud heard Wednesday from a former member of a community group who testified that he did not write or sign a fundraising letter addressed to the politician even though it appears to have his name and signature on it.
The authenticity of the letter -- first presented as evidence Monday -- came under intense scrutiny on Day 3 of the trial of Independent member Trevor Zinck, who was charged in 2011 with theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust.
In an agreed statement of facts, Zinck has admitted that the Speaker's Office reimbursed him for $10,000 in expense claims he filed in 2008 and 2009 even though he did not pay the suppliers listed in his claims.
His lawyer, Lyle Howe, has focused his line of questioning on the lack of financial training for new members of the legislature and the confusing nature of the internal rules governing expense claims.
On Wednesday, witness Brian LeBlanc told Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax that he couldn't have written the letter in question because it was riddled with rudimentary grammatical errors that he would not make.
"The style of writing is not my own," said LeBlanc, who now works for the Department of Finance in Alberta.
He also said the signature wasn't his, at one point producing his driver's licence to show the difference.
The letter appears to be from the Dartmouth District 9 Citizen's Association, a community group based in Zinck's Dartmouth North riding. LeBlanc said he served as the group's vice-chairman between 2006 and 2008.
Court heard that the document was seeking funding from Zinck for a local basketball program, which LeBlanc had organized.
LeBlanc confirmed that he had formally requested funding from Zinck in an earlier email, which disappeared when he later closed the email account. However, LeBlanc said he quickly withdrew the request after telling Zinck in early 2008 that the program had obtained a grant from the provincial Department of Justice.
Crown attorney Mark Heerema then produced an approved expense claim from Zinck that included a copy of a duplicate cheque for $2,000 made out to the community group.
"It's the first time I've seen it," LeBlanc said.
Earlier, a retired senior bureaucrat testified that Zinck routinely submitted duplicate cheques and letters seeking donations as part of expense claims that were reimbursed under regulations that have since been tightened.
When Howe asked LeBlanc if someone else working for the community group could have written and signed the fundraising letter, he confirmed that at least one other colleague had written a fundraising proposal at the time.
And when asked if that person could have signed a document on his behalf, he said, "No. I am not aware."
As well, LeBlanc confirmed that he had worked on Zinck's successful provincial election campaign in 2006 but failed in a subsequent bid to be hired as one of his constituency assistants.
He said he was disappointed when he didn't get the job, but insisted he quickly accepted the decision once he decided to return to school to complete a degree in public administration.
