11 Aug 2008

French Polynesian opposition assembly member takes case to French court

11:29 am on 11 August 2008

A French Polynesian opposition assembly member, Lana Tetuanui, has decided to take her appeal court conviction for corruption to the French court of last resort in Paris.

This means she won't have to lose her assembly seat and can remain in office, offsetting the court decision which would made her ineligible for a year.

Last week, she and her husband had their suspended one-year prison sentences confirmed in the Papeete appeal court.

Her husband, Cyril Tetuanui, was given the same sentence for abusing public funds in 2002 when he was a mayor on the island of Raiatea.

The two were also each been fined 6,500 US dollars.

Lana Tetuanui is a senior member of Gaston Flosse's Tahoeraa Huiraatira party and briefly served as acting assembly president during the political turmoil of 2004.