20 Oct 2014

Retrial ordered in another Flosse case

11:41 am on 20 October 2014

A retrial has been ordered in French Polynesia of the so-called OPT affair after the case was thrown out by the appeal court in June because of a technicality.

The court had quashed a five-year jail sentence for both the then president, Gaston Flosse, and a French advertising executive, Hubert Haddad.

The two had earlier been convicted of corruption over a total of more than two million US dollars in kickbacks that had been paid to Flosse for giving public sector contracts to Mr Haddad's company.

The prosecution now says the matter at the heart of the case wasn't examined and will therefore be judged again on January the 15th.

If Flosse loses the case, he will get an additional conviction barring him from holding public office.

In July, he lost an appeal in France's highest court in another major corruption case and has since been forced to relinquish the presidency and his seat in the French Senate.

Gaston Flosse

Gaston Flosse Photo: RNZ