Warning over Thomson credit card admissions Craig Thomson is due to face a hearing in December on 173 criminal charges alleging he misused union funds while he was national secretary of the Health Services Union. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: HeraldSun A VICTORIAN magistrate has urged prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Craig Thomson to reconsider their insistence that the former Labor MP admit to the facts of his alleged credit card misuse. Mr Thomson, who lost his seat at the September election after becoming an independent, is due to face a hearing in December on 173 criminal charges alleging he misused union funds while he was national secretary of the Health Services Union. Senior Crown prosecutor Michele Williams SC has been adamant Mr Thomson's offer to provide an agreed list of "undisputed facts" under section 191 of the Victorian Evidence Act is unsatisfactory, insisting that he instead make an admission to the facts under section 184 instead. The disagreement has seen expectations for what was to be a five-day hearing blow out possibly into next year, with over a hundred witnesses to be called. Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg today warned that numerous witnesses would be called unless the parties agreed on the issue and told Ms Williams he couldn't see any difference between the two sections other than that an admission under section 184 could be used against Mr Thomson in other proceedings. "I strongly urge you, Ms Williams, to reconsider your position," he said. I can see the way things are going. I'm not getting too optimistic. Ms Williams said she would take the advice on board. She has previously told the court that Mr Thomson would face "an abundance of evidence" showing he misused union credit cards to pay for prostitutes and pornographic movies if he refused to make the admission to using them. Mr Thomson's barrister Greg James QC has accused the prosecution of trying to get the admission to assist the Fair Work Commission's civil case against Mr Thomson, a claim denied by Ms Williams. Mr James has said Mr Thomson would not be disputing anything other than whether he had the authority to use the cards. Mr Thomson left the union in 2007 to become Labor MP for the NSW seat of Dobell, but was suspended from the party as the Fair Work Commission (then known as Fair Work Australia) drew close to finishing its investigation into the allegations. He contested the last election as an independent, but won only 4 per cent of the vote and lost his seat to the Liberals' Karen McNamara. The case will return to court next month.