9 Mar 2006

French opposition stunned over Flosse accounts

2:32 pm on 9 March 2006

A French opposition MP, Rene Dosiere, says the financial abuse of the kind committed by the former French Polynesian presidency cannot be found elsewhere in France.

Mr Dosiere's comments comes after a comprehensive official report was published accounting for the expenses of French Polynesia's president, Gaston Flosse, between 1991 and 2004.

He has told the news agency, AFP, that questions need to be asked why the French government tolerated such a high level of expenditure.

Mr Dosiere has described as improbable a budget for Mr Flosse's presidency that was the same as that of the French president, with the same number of staff and vehicles.

He says French Polynesia's administration amounts to little more than a regional council with some extra powers.