Former Liberal cabinet minister Tony Tomassi has pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud.
As part of his plea agreement two other charges of breach of trust Tomassi are being dropped.
The former cabinet minister admitted in court to using a credit card supplied by security firm BCIA 60 times to fill up with gas, for a total of $6,995 between Nov. 1, 2007 and Dec. 18, 2008.
BCIA, which was also known as the Canadian Bureau of Investigations, was a private security company that received $4 million in grants from the provincial government before declaring bankruptcy.
The Crown and defence have made a joint suggestion that would see Tomassi avoid jail time, saying his reputation had already suffered in public opinion.
On Thursday, a judge agreed to that recommendation and sentenced Tomassi to 240 hours of community service over 18 months and ordered him to reimburse the government $2,500, and pay $3,000 to a charity.
He has already made several donations to charity since being charged, which the court took into account in its judgement.
Scandal became public in 2010
The Tomassi affair began in 2010 amid reports that the Family Minister was giving permits for $7-a-day daycares to friends and party supporters.
Then another report surfaced that Tomassi was having BCIA pay for his gasoline.
In May 2010 then-premier Jean Charest ordered Tomassi to resign his seat as a cabinet minister and leave the Liberal party.
At the time Charest said "Mr. Tomassi confirmed that he used for a certain period of time this card belonging to (the company) BCIA."
However it took another 18 months for the Crown to charge Tomassi with three counts of fraud and breach of trust.
Tomassi kept his seat in the National Assembly until 2012
