A former provincial premier of Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands, Ezekiel Alebua, has been charged with four counts of larceny.
Mr Alebua has appeared in the magistrate's court in Honiara as Dorothy Wickham reports.
"It's alleged that between 16th January 2001 and the 22nd of May 2001, whilst the premier of the Guadalcanal provincial government, Mr Alebua used 302,000 dollars of provincial government money for his own private purposes. This money was part of the 2,500,000 dollar package paid to the provincial government by the national government. The money was to be paid as compensation to the relatives of the 25 murder victims from Guadalcanal killed during the tension. Mr Alebua was bailed and is to reappear in the magistrate's court on the 24th of August."
