N.L. spending scandal businessman pleads guilty

A businessman connected to the Newfoundland and Labrador government spending scandal has pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000, frauds on government and breach of probation.

John Hand appeared in St. John's provincial court Friday.

Hand, 68, owned Zodiac Agencies.

He's associated with two other companies named in auditor general's reportsthat found members of the provincial house of assembly were misusing money they were allocated for constituency expenses.

The three companies received more than $2 million inpublic money.

The provincial auditor general said those payments involved fraud.

Bill Murray, former director of financial operations at the provincial legislature, had pleaded guilty in late January to fraud over $5,000 and three counts of accepting payments from politicians and a St. John's businessman.

The former civil servant at the heart of Newfoundland and Labrador's political spending scandalwassentenced to two years in prison and ordered to repay $177,000 in February.

The auditor general's reports led to criminal charges against Murray and four former politicians Progressive Conservative Ed Byrne, Liberals Wally Andersen and Jim Walsh, and New Democrat Randy Collins. They received sentences ranging from 15 months to two years.

The audits also prompted an overhaul of how the legislature is managed.