Former Liberal cabinet minister Tony Tomassi is lying low, one day after being charged with fraud and breach of trust.

He is accused of unlawfully using a credit card to buy gasoline while he was the provincial Family Minister.

The credit card in question belonged to BCIA, a security firm--now under bankruptcy protection--which won government contracts and had contributed to the Liberal party.

It was one of several controversies swirling around Tomassi last year, when he was forced to quit his post as minister responsible for families. He was also accused of rampant cronyism in the public day-care system for which he was responsible.

Attempts to reach Tomassi on Wednesday proved fruitless, as nobody answered the door at his home, and even though the MNA's office in Montreal's Lafontaine riding is supposed to be open, nobody was inside and the doors were locked.

Meanwhile political opponents are wondering why it has taken the Surete du Quebec so long to investigate this affair.

Tomassi was ejected from the Liberal caucus in May 2010 following numerous allegations about how he awarded daycare permits, his family's construction business.

The final straw was when newspaper reports revealed that the president of the BCIA was a close friend of Tomassi, and Premier Jean Charest learned of the credit card issue.

That was when Charest asked the SQ to investigate the matter.

The leader of the ADQ, Gerard Deltell, is calling on Tomassi to publicly explain himself, while Quebec Solidaire MNA Amir Khadir is now trying to get Tomassi recalled.

The official opposition Parti Québécois is asking for a resignation.

"The honourable thing -- if we can speak of honour in this case -- is that he resign," said Parti Quebecois public security critic Stephane Bergeron.

"The presumption of innocence (in the law) is a cardinal virtue but there's another factor we have to consider, and that's the fact that parliamentarians must comport themselves in a way that brings honour to their role, to the mandate conferred by the public, and not tarnish the image of the institution."

He hinted that, unless Tomassi stepped down, the PQ might table a motion in the legislature aimed at forcing him to quit. The PQ has the support of Quebec solidaire.

Deltell told reporters that the Tomassi case typified the governing party's "disgraceful" ties to illicit financial influences.

"The forces of money can influence Quebec politics. And that's unacceptable," Deltell said.

"Jean Charest runs Quebec as the Liberal leader -- not as the leader of a state, as leader of the government, as premier. We need a premier leading the state -- not the partisan head of a political party."

He noted that, for over a decade, Jean Charest drew a separate salary as Liberal leader independent from his pay as premier.

Charest has given up that $75,000-a-year stipend. But his party is being consistently attacked with accusations that it has broken fundraising laws and entertains a cozy financial relationship with controversial construction companies.

Despite the charges, many people in the Lafontaine riding seem willing to give the former minister the benefit of the doubt.

"I know Mr. Tomassi did a lot of good things in the community," said one man.

However others we spoke to said they felt "uncomfortable" about the charges.

Tomassi is due in a Quebec City court on Nov. 14 to face two counts of fraud and one count of breach of trust, but before that must be fingerprinted by police in Montreal.

With files from Canadian Press