FREDERICTON - The RCMP have charged a senior New Brunswick government employee with obstruction of justice following a investigation prompted by a complaint from the Opposition Liberals.

The Mounties began investigating last spring after receiving a letter from then-interim Liberal Leader Victor Boudreau alleging that someone within the government may have interfered with an investigation under the Provincial Aquaculture Act.

At the time, Boudreau said he forwarded an anonymous letter that claimed that deputy premier Paul Robichaud had tried to prevent one of his brothers from being charged with an aquaculture infraction.

Robichaud denied the allegation and has not been charged.

Peter Andrews, the executive director of corporate services with New Brunswick's Department of Aquaculture, Agriculture and Fisheries, has been charged.

The 56-year-old Nasonworth, N.B., man is due in court in Fredericton on March 1.

The government declined to say whether he has been suspended from his job.

The Opposition also declined comment.

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