The former head of the Cook Islands Prime Minister's office, Eddie Drollett, was to have spent the night in Rarotonga prison last night.
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Drollett yesterday afternoon after the Cook Islands court of appeal upheld a lower court decision to send him to prison.
Drollett, was convicted and sentenced to two-and-a-quarter-years in November last year for receiving around $27,700 of taxpayers' money in illegal 'kickbacks' while working at the office.
Yesterday, registrar Nooapii Tearea released the appeal court's decision in the high court.
The appeal court quashed the original two and a quarter years sentence replacing it with a 16 month term in prison
