A former constituency employee of Victoria-Swan Lake MLA Rob Fleming has been released on $5,000 bail.
Marni Ruth Offman, 45, appeared in Victoria provincial court Wednesday morning after spending the night in Victoria police cells.
Offman is charged with defrauding the constituency office of more than $5,000, theft over $5,000 and uttering forged cheques. The offences are alleged to have occurred between March 24, 2009, and Nov. 28, 2015.
Offman, who has shoulder-length dark hair and was wearing a blue Old Navy sweatshirt, tried to hide her face as she was escorted into the prisoner’s box by a sheriff. She kept her back to the court and public gallery during the brief bail hearing.
After listening to submissions from special prosecutor Dirk Ryneveld and defence lawyer Jeff Johnston, Judge Evan Blake released Offman on a $5,000 recognizance with no deposit and no surety.
Blake ordered Offman to surrender her passport, visa or Nexus card to the Victoria Police Department within 24 hours. She must remain in B.C. unless she receives the consent of her bail supervisor.
Offman was ordered to have no contact with Fleming, constituency assistant Lawrence Herzog; Hilary Woodward, executive financial officer of the legislative assembly; Craig James, clerk of the legislative assembly; and Lillian Wiseman, except through legal counsel.
She is also not allowed to have access to, or control of, anyone else’s money and cannot change employment without permission of her bail supervisor.
Neither Johnston nor Ryneveld would comment further.
Offman’s next court appearance is Aug. 11 at 9 a.m.
On Tuesday, Fleming issued a statement saying he made a complaint to Victoria police “after making the shocking discovery that funds were missing from my office.”
Police probed the financial records of the office after officials at the legislature and in Fleming’s office noted missing records and accounting discrepancies involving expense cheques.
The Criminal Justice Branch appointed Ryneveld as a special prosecutor to oversee the probe, giving independent oversight to the investigation.
The legislature provides approximately $119,000 a year to each MLA for constituency office expenses. That pays for staff, office supplies, travel, the organization of special events and flyers and advertisements to facilitate communication with constituents.
Fleming billed $124,514 between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, according to legislature records. Victoria-Beacon Hill NDP MLA Carole James spent $115,308 that year, and Oak Bay-Gordon Head Green MLA Andrew Weaver spent $114,226.
In B.C., more than $9.5 million is spent annually on constituency offices for 85 provincial politicians.
MLAs of all parties don’t need independent legislative approval for most expenses, nor do they have to share with provincial financial officials how much unspent public money remains in their constituency bank accounts.
The legislature pays office leases for MLAs directly to landlords, but MLAs have wide latitude to hire constituency staff and spend money on a variety of expenses, without checks, balances or approval from legislative officials.
Legislative officials have urged MLAs to cede control of their finances as part of reforms to increase transparency and accountability of political expenses.
