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SYDNEY - Former NSW government minister Milton Orkopoulos has been committed to stand trial on 52 child sex and drug charges.
The one-time NSW Aboriginal affairs minister appeared in the Newcastle Local Court today where Magistrate Richard Wakely found there was sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial.
Orkopoulos, a 49-year-old father of three, was ordered to attend an arraignment hearing on August 2 and his strict bail conditions were continued.
He had waived his right to a committal hearing and is yet to enter a plea to the charges, which allege he committed a string of child sex and drug-related crimes spanning a period of more than 10 years.
Orkopoulos, the former member for the state electorate of Swansea, was dumped by the Labor Party and resigned from state parliament in November last year after he was charged with supplying drugs to two teenage boys, and also using government funds to pay one of them for sex.
He was first charged on November 8 with 33 offences, but a further 21 charges were added in April this year relating to his alleged involvement with a 16-year-old boy between August 1995 and December 1996.
Prosecutors today withdrew seven charges but introduced another five, taking the number of charges faced by Orkopoulos to 52, a spokesman for the NSW Attorney-General's office said.
The new charges are further counts of assault with an act of indecency, sexual intercourse without consent and indecency.
Orkopoulos was remanded into custody in April but he was released the following month on strict bail conditions, including that he be supervised and that he have no contact with minors.
His bail conditions were continued today and he will next appear in the Newcastle District Court.
- AAP
