The pardoned former Vanuatu prime minister Barak Sope says his jailing on forgery charges has damaged relations between Vanuatu and New Zealand and Australia.
Mr Sope was pardoned last week by Vanuatu's President and says he should never have been jailed.
He says while he did not follow procedures, he did nothing wrong in signing letters of guarantee worth millions of dollars without seeking parliament's support.
But he says the Vanuatu Government, helped by Australian and New Zealand officials, pushed through legislative changes with one aim - to convict him.
He says paying to jail the former leader of another country has damaged relations between the countries. .
"Why spend so much money, so much foreign money, taxpayers' money in New Zealand and Australia to pay for a case to put an ex prime minister in jail... it's amazing really. That has damaged the diplomatic relation, the people's view anyway, of what New Zealand and Australia are up to."
Barak Sope says he does not blame the governments of New Zealand and Australia but minor officials meddling where they should not have.
