AN expenses hearing in the Frenchgate case involving lying MP Alistair Carmichael will be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Monday.
Papers from both sides were submitted to the court last week, and Carmichael is said to be seeking costs with a “punitive” element.
The Orkney Four – Tim Morrison, Fiona Grahame, Cary Welling and Phaemie Matheson – took Carmichael to a rare Election Court trial over a memo he leaked that wrongly claimed Nicola Sturgeon wanted the Tories to remain in Downing Street after last year’s General Election.
Last Month Lady Paton and Lord Matthews found that Scotland’s only Liberal Democrat MP had told a “blatant lie” when he said in a TV interview he had been unaware of the memo until after he was asked about it by a journalist.
However, they ruled it had not been proved “beyond reasonable doubt” that he had committed an “illegal practice” under the Representation of the People Act.
The petitioners have raised nearly £210,000 through crowdfunding website Indiegogo.com to cover their costs in the case and have pledged that anything left over will go to Scotland’s food banks.
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