The jury at Jacques Corriveau's fraud trial will be back at work Sunday after no verdict was reached on the second full day of deliberations.
The 83-year-old former federal Liberal organizer stood trial on charges of fraud against the government, forgery and laundering proceeds of crime.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Francois Buffoni told the jury of eight men and four women on Thursday they must decide whether Corriveau knowingly used his influence to secure himself some $6.5 million in kickbacks between 1997 and 2003.
The Crown alleged Corriveau set up a kickback system on government contracts awarded during the federal sponsorship program and used his Pluri Design Canada Inc. firm to defraud Ottawa.
But defence attorneys argued the Crown had failed to prove Corriveau, a one-time close ally of ex-prime minister Jean Chretien, had used his influence to secure any contracts.
The jury has been sequestered since Thursday afternoon.