Ex-deputy Quebec premier Nathalie Normandeau’s fraud case returns to court

QUEBEC — Former deputy Quebec premier Nathalie Normandeau and five co-accused are due back in court today for the next step in their fraud-related case.

They are scheduled to appear in a Quebec City courtroom for a preparatory hearing.

Normandeau, 49, is charged with conspiracy, corruption, breach of trust and fraud in a scheme in which political financing and gifts were allegedly exchanged for lucrative government contracts between 2000 and 2012.

No date has been set for the trial, although the Crown said earlier this year that it will likely begin in early 2018 and last at least four months.

Normandeau served as a Liberal member of the legislature for a riding on the Gaspe peninsula from 1998 to 2011 and held key cabinet positions as well as being deputy premier from 2007 to 2011.

She and her co-accused were arrested in March 2016.

Normandeau’s lawyer said earlier this year that the former cabinet minister maintains her innocence.

The Canadian Press