9 Jun 2015

Call for unimpeded police inquiry in Nauru bribery claims

2:43 pm on 9 June 2015

A suspended Nauru MP is calling on the government to allow a full police inquiry into bribery allegations implicating the Justice Minister David Adeang.

Australian media is reporting emails, that were tabled in the Nauru parliament in 2009, showed a Queensland phosphate importer allegedly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr Adeang.

The Nauru government has called a report on the ABC 7.30 current affairs programme baseless and for that reason they were not pursued by the government at the time.

Nauru's Justice Minister David Adeang

Nauru's Justice Minister David Adeang Photo: Supplied

Mr Adeang claims the resurfaced allegations are the work of disgruntled former employees that his government removed.

But suspended MP and former Justice Minister, Mathew Batsiua, says there needs to be a thorough investigation by Nauru police.

"I think what the government needs to do in order to clear their own name is to make sure that the Nauru police firstly is able to investigate this properly without any hindrance and for the government to support the Nauru police in trying to build up their capabilities so they can properly investigate. It is in the best interests of Nauru to have this matter properly investigated"

Mathew Batsiua says he is not sure how advanced a separate Australian Federal Police investigation is.