Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Decision due on whether French Polynesia’s Flosse is to return to jail

Posted at 22:22 on 02 December, 2009 UTC

A decision is expected today on whether to return French Polynesia’s veteran politician, Gaston Flosse, into preventive custody in Tahiti’s main jail.

This follows his release last week after he had been detained for 16 days as part of an investigation into the OPT affair.

Walter Zweifel reports.

“The prosecution wants Gaston Flosse to be locked up again after the president of the court of appeal last week released him on strict bail conditions which stopped him from getting a ministerial position after the ousting of the previous government. He is due to be questioned simultaneously with other key suspects in the days to come as investigative judges try to unravel what has been labelled a pact of corruption. The probe centres on allegations that he and his party received kickbacks in excess of two million US dollars over a decade for giving public sector contracts to a French advertising executive.”

“His defence has challenged the integrity of the process and called for the case to be moved away from Tahiti.”