QUEBEC — Former Quebec lieutenant-governor Lise Thibault will remain behind bars until at least next Tuesday.
Her lawyer, Marc Labelle, wanted to seek leave to appeal today, a day after Thibault was sentenced to 18 months in jail on fraud and breach of trust charges.
Labelle said she should have been released today because of her ailing health.
The Crown prosecutor in the case argued he needed more time to prepare his case and a Quebec Court of Appeal justice ruled he had not been convinced of the urgency for Thibault, 76, to be released so quickly.
Instead, Quebec's top court will hear Labelle on Tuesday as well as his arguments that his client should be freed pending the appeal proceedings.
Thibault was charged two years after a 2007 report by the federal and provincial auditors general revealed she claimed more than $700,000 in improper expenses when she held the vice-regal post between 1997 and 2007.
