The trial of a man accused in the Mosquito First Nation treaty land entitlement fraud case has been pushed back several months.
The trial for Gerald Bird is now scheduled for June in Queen's Bench court in Saskatoon. Initially it had been scheduled to begin later this month.
Bird, a former Treaty Land Entitlement trustee on the reserve, faces charges of fraud, theft and breach of trust. He was one of five individuals charged in case that goes back to events in the early 2000s.
Based on evidence presented in previous court proceedings in the case, the individuals were alleged to have taken money out of a trust fund set aside specifically for land purchases, but spent it for various other purposes instead.
Bird is the lone accused still before the justice system. The first individuals to be sentenced in the case were former TLE trustees Eldon Starchief and Alfonse Moosomin. Both pleaded guilty to criminal breach of trust and were sentenced to one year in jail and a period of two years probation in late 2010.
Last year, former Mosquito chief Clarence Stone received a one-year conditional sentence in the case after pleading guilty to theft over $5,000.
Charges were also laid against Clifford Spyglass, but Spyglass died in May 2012 while his case was still making its way through the justice system.
