Saskatchewan's Conflict of Interest Commissioner has released his report surrounding a 16 year-old cover-up in the NDP caucus.

Gerald Gerrand says in the 55-page document that former MLA Glenn Hagel mislead the Assembly inadvertantly when grilled by the opposition last year on an alleged cover-up of fraud in the NDP's caucus. He found that Hagel violated the MLA Code of Conduct by not asking the right questions and getting appropriate information from former Chief of Staff Jim Fodey, who was supposed to hand over documents to police back in the early 1990's. However, the Commissioner's investigation finds that Hagel did not actively cover up the theft back in 1992 and the years that followed.

This all came to light last year when the Saskatchewan Party, then in opposition, received a packet of documents that lead them to believe Hagel had been responsible for covering up the theft of nearly $6,000 by a former caucus employee in1992. The questions and accusations from the Saskatchewan Party last year lead Hagel to step down from cabinet and long-time Chief of Staff Jim Fodey resigned as well.

In the report, the bulk of the blame for the cover-up is put on Fodey, who Gerrand finds actively withheld information from police. He says when the questions came up in the Legislative Assembly, Hagel should have asked more direct and relevant questions of Fodey before presenting information as fact to the Assembly.

While he can't comment on some aspects of the case, the Commissioner also points out that if the NDP disclosed everything fully when the fraud was originally discovered, the whole mess could have been avoided. But he says Hagel likely wouldn't have provided the wrong information during Question Period had the Saskatchewan Party done the right thing and filed the documents they'd been given with the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly from the outset.

The report can be viewed by clicking here.