18 Dec 2013

Call for Vanuatu diplomatic passport frauds to be brought to justice

9:40 pm on 18 December 2013

Transparency International is calling for Vanuatu's Ministry of Justice to expose and prosecute politicians involved in long standing crimes involving diplomatic passports.

Marie Noelle Patterson is calling on the Justice Minister, to publicly release a report he received on 10 December from a Commission of Inquiry into the issue.

She says it's also up to the Ombudsman to take action on the matter and stop hiding information from the public.

She says wrongdoing has continued despite the introduction of tighter legislation in 2008.

"We have had repeated incidents like this and we've had no one prosecuted so I think it's time for that report to be made public, for that report to be forwarded to the prosecution, and for action to be taken. The repeated reports of diplomatic passports being wrongfully issued is something that needs to be stopped."

Ms Patterson says it appears the whole Vanuatu Parliament was bought when it issued investors with diplomatic passports.