Tahiti tax fraud case in court in September

7:15 pm on 3 November 2016

The appeal court in French Polynesia says it will hear a major tax fraud case involving the finance company Sofipac next September.

The company has been found to have assisted in handling about 300 fake claims to get French tax rebates worth about 35 million US dollars.

The company's head, William Bernier, had been given a five-year jail sentence, three of them suspended, when the case was judged in the criminal court.

Before the trial last year, he tried to commit suicide and was in a psychiatric clinic.

Since then, he has moved to France.

Another 20 people implicated in the case are to be tried next month.