Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Aug 05/02) - Fort Smith residents will have to wait a little longer to find out if charges will be laid over the disappearance of funds from the local District Education Authority.

Const. Dwayne Latham, the lead investigator on the case with the Fort Smith RCMP detachment, says he recently received a request for more information from the Crown attorneys' office in Yellowknife.

The Crown, which had received a report on the investigation, wants more details before deciding if charges will be laid.

Latham says the details of the case need to be "properly solidified."

"It's a long process," he says, explaining such painstaking detail is required for every case.

More information has now been requested from the DEA and the South Slave Divisional Education Council.

Latham could not estimate when the investigation will now be concluded and a decision made on whether charges will be laid.

The investigation has been ongoing since last fall.

"That's not unusual in these types of cases," says Latham, explaining the investigation involves complicated numbers and paper trails.

Although the investigator declined to offer an exact estimate of the amount of missing money, he says it is in the tens of thousands of dollars.