Six years after they opened a fraud investigation, the RCMP has charged a former employee of the Clearwater River Dene Nation with stealing more than $1 million from the First Nation.

Sixty-one-year-old Johnny Cheecham is facing a charge of fraud over $5,000.

The crime is alleged to have happened while Cheecham was serving as general manager for the community from 2008 to 2011.

The RCMP first received a report of potential fraud in 2014.

Cheecham is due to make his first court appearance in La Loche on Sept. 21.