SHORTAGE OF JUDGES; 200 SCRAPPED CRIMINAL CASES

   FP:  The Federal budget in 2018 earmarked tens of millions to crack down on tax evasion but too little to address the current, and dire, shortage of judges to hear criminal trials.
   Shortages mean undue delays which has led to the scrapping of more than 200 criminal cases across the country since 2016 when the Supreme Court ruled that unreasonable delays abrogate the rights of the accused.
  Ironically, the day after the federal budget, on March 1, one of the country’s highest profile white collar cases may be scrapped due to the severe shortage of judges.