French Polynesia: Developments in former president Flosse's corruption cases - full text
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Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) on June 13 reported that France's highest court of appeal would review the 2009 conviction of former president Gaston Flosse on corruption charges relating to the misuse of public funds. The review was triggered when an appeal court in Paris on June 12 ruled that the legal provision under which Flosse had been convicted was constitutionally unsound.
Flosse had been banned for a year from seeking political office after he was convicted of misusing public funds following the Polynesian general elections of 2004. The affair, which had been dubbed the "sushi case" in the French media, concerned Flosse's alleged outlay of 20,000 euros (US$1.00=98.9339 French Pacific francs as at Sept. 3, 2004) of public money to buy sushi and champagne for a planned celebration of the result of the 2004 election (which Flosse's party, in the event, lost). A French court had in September 2009 upheld Flosse's conviction in the case and his sentence to a year's suspended jail term, a fine of over 8,000 euros, and a year-long ban on holding public office. Had the ban been instituted it would have cost Flosse both his ongoing membership in the French Polynesian assembly and his role as a member of the French senate. His lawyers now successfully made the case to the French constitutional court that the clause used to ban him in the French Polynesian electoral law had been too broad for the purpose. With the clause ruled unconstitutional, a French court was now due to consider whether the punishment handed out to Flosse should be overturned.
Immediate context
The charges related to events following the 2004 election in French Polynesia, at which a coalition led by Oscar Temaru's Tavini Huiraatira party had won a narrow majority of seats and formed a government with three independent parliamentarians. Temaru's government fell in a no-confidence vote in October of the same year; against a backdrop of opposition and popular protests, Flosse was controversially elected president on Oct 22. In February 2005 it was ruled that the result in the Windward Islands had not been valid and a by-election was held; the new poll handed more seats to Temaru's coalition and, after losing a no-confidence vote, Flosse was forced to step down from the presidency in March.
Further criminal investigations concerning the aftermath of the 2004 election were also ongoing in May and June as Flosse's deputy within Tahoeraa, Edouard Fritch, was questioned for 44 hours by police investigating the alleged bribery of independent legislator, Noa Tetuanui, who had backed Flosse's October 2004 no-confidence motion against Temaru. Fritch was Flosse's son-in-law. Flosse was also under investigation in the so-called OPT (Office of Post and Telephony) case, in which it was alleged that a telephone directory company had paid kickbacks in exchange for public sector contracts. Flosse had spent part of November and December 2009 in jail as the OPT investigation progressed. A third ongoing case had led in late May to Flosse being charged with spying on Temaru during the 2004 election period and aftermath. The case related to the operation of a now-defunct intelligence unit that had allegedly operated with the tacit acceptance of the French authorities. Since it was disbanded its records had all disappeared. The charges filed against Flosse included claims that he had deliberately obstructed efforts to investigate the former unit.
Pending the outcome of his appeal Flosse had continued to play an active role in French Polynesian politics. Among his most prominent recent actions had been to join the debate on whether French Polynesia should seek independence from France. The Tahoeraa Huiraatira (TH—Popular Rally) party, of which Flosse was leader, was historically opposed to the independence movement, and Flosse was considered close to French politicians including former president Jacques Chirac, on whose cabinet he had served as Pacific Affairs minister, and who was the godfather of one of his sons. Flosse's suggestion on June 3 that the country should hold a referendum on independence was consequently received with some surprise in French Polynesia. Oscar Temaru, whose Tavini Huiraatira party staunchly advocated independence, welcomed his rival Flosse's proposal and suggested that a poll could be held in 2014, during which year it was expected that nearby French territory New Caledonia would call an independence referendum. It was, however, reported on June 9 that Marie-Luce Penchard, France's overseas territories minister, had said that it was to French Polynesia that French president Nicolas Sarkozy was referring when he commented the previous day that independence was "a red line that could not be crossed." Radio New Zealand International also reported on June 3 that Tahoeraa sought to oppose "the kind of independence" advocated by Tavini.
Reaction and outlook
Radio New Zealand International (RNZI) on 12 June reported that Flosse's sentence being ruled unconstitutional meant that the case would now be passed on to France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, for further review. There were as yet no reports on the likely future direction of the OPT and spying cases.
The question of the future governance of France's overseas territories in the Pacific remained open. Temaru, in an interview with Radio Australia on 19 May, had expressed dismay that he had been barred from attending a meeting of the UN special regional committee meeting on decolonisation in New Caledonia, claiming that the French authorities had prohibited his attendance. Temaru expressed solidarity with New Caledonia's Kanak Movement which, under the 1998 Nouméa Accord, had been granted some autonomy both to oversee their own government in the immediate term and, in the longer term, to negotiate New Caledonia's future association with France. France had in 1946 incorporated French Polynesian as a French département, thereby removing it from the UN's list of Pacific candidates for decolonization, to which New Caledonia had been re-added in 1988. Temaru had been calling for French Polynesia's addition to the list since at least 2004, but an official visit by then-president Jacques Chirac of France in 2003 had made it clear that he saw French Polynesia as an integral part of France.
Historical context
The islands of French Polynesia were first contacted by European in 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka. Missionaries arrived on the principal island of Tahiti in the eighteenth century with both Catholics and Protestants attempting to convert the natives. King Pomare II of Tahiti and his subjects were finally converted to Protestant Christianity in 1812.
The islands were declared a French protectorate in 1842 and Catholic missionaries re-established themselves on the islands and endeavoured to spread Catholicism. The islands were annexed by France in 1880 and became a protectorate. During the Second World War the administration of the colony sided with the Free French forces of Charles de Gaulle against the Vichy French regime. After the war the islands status changed again, this time becoming an overseas territory rather than a colony. French Polynesians were granted French citizenship.
In July 1966 the French government carried out its first nuclear test in French Polynesia after the loss of the previous testing facility in Algeria. Opposition to the tests grew in the Pacific region with the January 1969 tests opposed by French Polynesia's Territorial Assembly and other legislatures in the region. Opposition to French actions was not enough to give pro-autonomy parties a win in the elections of December 1972 however.
In March 1975 the leader of the Territorial Assembly agreed a limited autonomy package for the islands at talks in Paris ). However the plans were rejected as insufficient by the Territorial Assembly in which a new pro-autonomy majority had taken power. In June 1981 pro-independence militants were put on trial for the murder of a French company director but the lack of support for independence was shown in the Territorial Assembly elections of May 1982 which returned a majority for parties favouring close ties with France.
Early Territorial Assembly elections in March 1987 returned Gaston Flosse to power despite his opponents' attempts to emphasise corruption allegations against him. The resulting government only lasted for one year before being brought down over its handling of a dockworkers strike. President Flosse stepped down in 1991 after protests against the imposition of a new tax.
In June 1995 France's decision to resume nuclear testing in French Polynesia was condemned by the South Pacific Forum and environmental groups. France pressed on with the tests and was met with international condemnation and riots in Papeete (the capital). The riots on Tahiti were quelled by French troops and paramilitaries who remained in the territory during subsequent tests.
Flosse was found guilty of taking bribes from an illegal casino to fund his political party in November 1999. The court handed down a suspended prison sentence, a fine and a one year ban on running for office. This conviction did not prevent him leading his party to victory in the May 2001 Territorial Assembly elections. A French court subsequently ruled that he should be pardoned.
In 2004 French Polynesia entered a protracted period of political instability. The presidency repeatedly passed between Flosse, Tong Sang, and Oscar Temaru. Tong Sang formed the ninth government since 2004 when Oscar Temaru was unseated by a no confidence vote in November 2009.
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