N.S. politician offered staffer a bonus if she bought his car, court told

HALIFAX -- A woman who worked for a former Liberal cabinet minister charged in Nova Scotia's spending scandal says he offered her a bonus if she agreed to buy his car.

Nicole Campbell testified Wednesday on behalf of the Crown at the trial of Russell MacKinnon, who has pleaded not guilty to fraud, breach of trust and uttering forged documents.

Campbell, 31, said she did secretarial work for MacKinnon at his Sydney River constituency office from January 2005 until June 2006.

She said in the fall of 2005, MacKinnon offered her a financial incentive to buy his car, a mid-1990s Dodge Intrepid.

"He called and said he could get me a $3,000 bonus if I agreed to purchase his car," she told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.

She agreed, though she said she paid only $1,000 for it, the court heard.

Campbell said she was let go from her job in June 2006 after MacKinnon, who left the Liberals and sat as an Independent, was unsuccessful in his bid to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in the riding of Cape Breton West.

"Russell called me right after I finished working to tell me, 'Don't worry, I'll look after you,"' she said.

After her employment ended, MacKinnon invited her to his home in mid-June 2006 where he paid her $200 or $300, she testified. She said she could not recall the precise amount nor whether the payment was made by cheque or in cash.

Hughie Hayes, a 78-year-old carpenter from Sydney Forks, later testified. He was asked about a $500 expense that the Crown said MacKinnon filed on his behalf for work updating a constituency mailing list in April 2006.

"I never did that," Hayes said. "Never had a computer. Wouldn't know how to use one."

When asked later whether he was ever paid by MacKinnon for work he had done, he replied, "He could've, buddy. I don't know. I have no idea."

He later told the court he had trouble with his memory.

MacKinnon, 59, was one of four politicians charged in February 2011 following an investigation by the province's auditor general into constituency allowance spending. He is the first to contest the charges.

His judge-only trial is scheduled to last until Monday. Defence lawyer Joel Pink has said he won't decide what witnesses to call, if any, until the Crown completes its case.

Two of the three other politicians charged in the spending scandal have been sentenced.

Former Liberal Dave Wilson was sentenced last April after admitting to defrauding the public purse of nearly $61,000. He was released from custody in August after serving four months of a nine-month sentence.

Richard Hurlburt, a former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister, was sentenced last July to a year of house arrest after pleading guilty to charges of fraud and breach of trust.

Independent member Trevor Zinck is charged with theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust. His trial is scheduled to begin in June.

MacKinnon was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1988 and later became labour minister before quitting politics in 2006.