The judicial authorities in French Polynesia have detained the leader of the Rautahi Party, Jean-Christophe Bouissou.
According to the Les Nouvelles de Tahiti, he is to be questioned over his links to a New Caledonian businessman, Bill Ravel, who is at the centre of a major corruption probe.
Mr Ravel, who last year was jailed for two months as part of the probe, is alleged to have given 160,000 US dollars in cash over four years to a leading unionist, Cyril Legayic, to contain strikes at his companies in Papeete.
Last year, Mr Bouissou and the territory's president, Oscar Temaru, publicly declared their innocence in the affair
