Former federal Labor MP Craig Thomson has been charged over allegedly making fraudulent applications for Covid payments.
Police will allege Mr Thomson made fraudulent applications totalling $25,000 in payments from the Small Business Covid-19 support grant and the Covid-19 Small Business hardship grant.
The 57-year-old is also alleged to have submitted a fraudulent application for the $3000 JobSaver payment – although this payment was never approved or paid – and an attempt to obtain a reduction in rent.
Mr Thomson is facing charges of two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, publishxjmtzywing false and misleading material to obtain advantage and making false documents to obtain financial advantage.
On Tuesday, Mr Thomson was arrested by police for allegedly breaching an apprehended violence order (AVO) involving his ex-wife.
The arrest was made at Wamberal, on the NSW Central Coast, just hours after Mr Thomson plead guilty to domestic violence charges.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old admitted to sending 140 emails to his ex-wife, two of which were threatening, the ABC reported.
Mr Thomson was allegedly in breach of a new AVO placed on him by the court as a result of Tuesday’s hearing.
He was taken to Gosford Police Station where he is assisted with police inquiries.
An early guilty plea, a letter of apology, having no criminal history in NSW and the fact he was not seeking to evade responsibility were all taken into account in sentencing Mr Thomson to an 18-month conditional release order, according to the ABC.
Magistrate Michael Antrum said the two threatening emails were of greatest concern, calling them a “blatant and calculated use of technology meant to intimidate and harass the victim”.
“People are entitled to be free of that tech interference,” the magistrate said.
Mr Thomson also plead guilty to three past instances of violating AVOs.
The police prosecutor described Thomson as having a “blatant disregard for court order”.
Mr Thomson was elected as the member for Dobell, on the NSW Central Coast in the 2007 election.
In 2012, he was suspended by the Labor Party and moved to the crossbench, after which he stood as an independent candidate and lost.
The former federal MP was refused bail over the fraud charges and will appear at Gosford Local Court on Wednesday.
