25 Apr 2006

Australia tells Solomons to clean up corruption

11:12 am on 25 April 2006

The Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says it's up to the courts to decide if Solomon Islands politicians were behind last week's riots in Honiara.

During his weekend visit to Honiara, Mr Downer urged Solomon Islands leaders to clean up corruption.

He has also said there were some irregularities during the elections, but not to the extent they would have changed the results.

The new prime minister, Snyder Rini, has rejected the corruption allegations, saying those who have evidence should go to the police.

Mr Downer's call to crack down on corruption comes as the Australian government is itself embroiled in a probe over corrupt deals by Australian companies with the former Iraqi government which reportedly involved sums in excess of the entire Solomons GDP.