Hanna is set to front court on Friday morning, facing one count of publishing electoral material containing an inaccurate statement.

The claims date back to the mayoral campaign ahead of the November 2018 Local Government elections.

It’s understood Hanna is charged with a breach of the Local Government (Elections) Act, section 28, which relates to ‘Publication of misleading material’.

The maximum penalty for a guilty finding of a breach of section 28 is a $5000 fine.

InDaily understands a complaint was lodged about material distributed by Hanna during his campaign for re-election as mayor, and complainants have been contacted by the SA Electoral Commission to notify them that the matter had been referred to court.

Hanna previously stood unsuccessfully for Nick Xenophon’s SA Best at the state election in March of the same year.

Before becoming mayor in 2014, he was a long-serving state MP for the southern suburbs seat of Mitchell, first for the ALP, and later as a Green and then independent.

ECSA declined to confirm or deny that it had investigated and sent the matter to court, while Marion council and the LGA similarly declined to comment.

Hanna has not responded to numerous inquiries from InDaily this week.

Another current member of the Marion council has already faced legal action relating to an unrelated matter from the same election period.

Former deputy mayor Luke Hutchinson last year pleaded guilty to two counts of publishing electoral material without including a mandated name or address, in the first prosecution of its kind in SA.

He was convicted and placed on a $200 12-month good behaviour bond.