2 Jul 2010

French Polynesia couple win reprieve in 2002 corruption case

2:59 pm on 2 July 2010

A French Polynesian opposition assembly member, Lana Tetuanui, and her husband, Cyril Tetuanui, have won a reprieve in their corruption case in Paris.

She faced the prospect of ineligibility after an appeal court had given her suspended one-year prison sentence.

Her husband, Cyril Tetuanui, was given the same sentence for abusing public funds in 2002 when he was a mayor on the island of Raiatea.

However, their case in France's highest court has been stalled by last month's ruling in the constitutional court which threw out a provision tying ineligibility to a conviction.

That ruling resulted from a successful challenge by the leader of Mrs Tetuanui's party, Gaston Flosse, who fought the possible loss of his own assembly seat after being convicted ina corruption case.

According to French media reports, the Tetuanuis' case will go back to an appeal court in France which is expected to make a decision in a year.