The Premier's former campaign manager Andre Curtis was briefly a wanted man yesterday, when a warrant was issued for his immediate arrest.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves issued the warrant after Curtis, 48, failed to turn up for a Supreme Court hearing related to one of the frauds he is accused of.

He is currently awaiting trial on charges that he carried on an investment business, Harvest Investment Holdings, without a licence and provided misleading statements.

Curtis denies the allegations but has no lawyer to represent him, and is attempting to secure the services of Charles Richardson through Legal Aid.

His lack of representation has repeatedly caused his pending Supreme Court trial to be delayed.

Yesterday's hearing at 9.30 a.m was fixed so Curtis could update the court, but he did not turn up.

At 9.40 a.m. the hearing began anyway, and defence lawyer Craig Attridge passed on a message from Mr. Richardson that he'd heard nothing from Legal Aid about whether they would pay for him to represent Curtis.

Prosecutor Carrington Mahoney then asked that a warrant be issued, since Curtis was not present at court.

Referring to a previous incident last month where Curtis was late for a court appearance, Mr. Justice Greaves noted: "This is the second time Mr. Curtis has failed to appear in recent times and it's the second time a warrant has had to be issued for him. He seems to have developed a bad habit, which is going to have to be remedied. A warrant is issued for the immediate arrest of Mr. Curtis."

However, the defendant, of Whale Bay Lane, Warwick, showed up by himself at the Supreme Court Registry around 10 a.m and the court reconvened at 10.45 a.m.

Asked by the judge why he'd not shown up earlier, Curtis replied: "I apologise Sir, I thought it was (at) ten o'clock. I showed up, but it was too late. I thought it was ten o'clock. I never miss this court. I have intentions of proving myself, that I'm innocent of these charges, so every single time I have to be here I will be here."

He added that he has provided information to the Legal Aid office and is waiting to hear back.

Mr. Justice Greaves withdrew the warrant, listed another hearing for Friday July 16, and granted Curtis bail until then. However, he warned him to ensure that he supplies all the information that the Legal Aid office needs.

"If I learn that you have not supplied everything to them, if I learn that you have delayed this because of your behaviour, you are going to jail. I'm tired of your non-appearances and excuses and things like that," he told Curtis.

The accused, who is the former political campaign manager for Premier Ewart Brown in Warwick South Central, is facing separate allegations that he stole public funds and falsified expenditure from the Government's faith-based tourism initiative.

Curtis is alleged to have plundered nearly $100,000 of Government money between April 2007 and April 2008 and to have dishonestly falsified account expenditure from the faith-based budget.

He's also accused of stealing approximately $228,000 from Andrew Smith, relating to a construction company he once operated.

Curtis was arrested over those allegations on June 22 and charged at Magistrates' Court the following day. He has not been required to enter pleas, as the charges can only be dealt with at Supreme Court. He is also on bail over that matter, and is due to return to Magistrates' Court again on August 6.

Those charges are in addition to a Montana State Auditor Office's probe into an alleged multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme Curtis is said to have partly run, which is still proceeding in the United States. A court hearing is scheduled for July 19.