Davo77Tristan SwanwickDecember 03, 2008 12:00amFORMER Beattie...

Davo77


Tristan Swanwick
December 03, 2008 12:00am

FORMER Beattie government minister Gordon Nuttall will defend corruption charges when he goes on trial next year.

Nuttall and millionaire businessman Ken Talbot were both yesterday committed to stand trial in the Brisbane District Court on charges stemming from alleged secret payments totalling $300,000 over a three-year period.

It is alleged that former Macarthur Coal chief executive Ken Talbot made the payments in a series of loans, each totalling less than the reportable sum of $10,000, between 2002 and 2005.

Outside court, Nuttall continued to maintain his innocence, saying he had acted through proper processes and within the law.

"What we have to do now is go to trial and give it our best," he said.

Talbot yesterday declined to comment.

Nuttall has previously claimed before a CMC inquiry that Talbot had been helping him buy houses for his children, but investigators allege less than half of the $300,000 in question actually went to them.

The court heard the payments were approved by Talbot via a note and were later extended for another two years.

The committal began in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court in February this year, hearing from a stream of Queensland's most powerful people, including current Premier Anna Bligh and former premier Peter Beattie.

It was completed yesterday when the final witness, Bronwyn Margaret McLennan, gave evidence.

Ms McLennan, a former business development manager for Talbot's private company MDA Capital, recounted how she arranged the loans on the instructions of her then employer.

After hearing the witnesses, magistrate Leanne O'Shea found there was sufficient evidence for both accused to stand trial.

Nuttall and Talbot entered pleas of not guilty and reserved their defence.

At trial, they will bear the onus of proving that any payments made were not for corrupt purposes.

The pair's trial is expected to be held in the middle of next year.

Businessman Harold Shand, who is also accused of making corrupt payments to Nuttall, is also awaiting trial after his committal hearing ended in July this year.