French Polynesian Corruption Trials To Be Held

FRENCH POLYNESIAN CORRUPTION TRIALS SHOULD BE HELD IN FRENCH POLYNESIA

Radio Australia is reporting a call that French Polynesian corruption trials should be held in Tahiti rather than in France.

French Polynesia's opposition leader Oscar Temaru has called for all citizens, including politicians, to have their court cases heard in Tahiti.

The recommendation comes three weeks before a court in Paris rules on corruption charges against the President of French Polynesian, Gaston Flosse.

Mr. Flosse and two associates are accused of accepting half a million dollars in bribes from a Chinese businessman in 1988 to permit establishment of gambling facilities near Papeete.

Temaru said there is no reason for politicians to have their cases heard in metropolitan France.

"The French justice system is very slow so we have to wait ten years for the judgment. And he (Flosse) used all kinds of possibilities to postpone or delay the judgment.

"So we do not understand why the politicians are judged in Paris, not here in Tahiti.

"We have a tribunal here, so we have asked the French government to judge every citizen of this country here in Tahiti," Temaru said.

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