Off the wire
• Euro 2016 qualifying standings  • Morales asks fans to continue supporting Bolivia's national team  • Rio ready for Olympic mountain bike test  • Results of Euro 2016 qualifiers  • Borussia Dortmund eye move for Pato  • U.S. pauses program to train and equip Syrian rebels  • Roundup: Canadian stock market inches lower as downbeat job data weighs  • Cubans eagerly await Lang Lang, Chucho Valdes concert  • Chinese envoy calls for integrated approach to addressing migrant crisis in Mediterranean  • Chinese envoy highlights implementation of South Sudan peace agreement  
You are here: 　 Home

Vanuatu's deputy PM, parliament speaker found guilty of bribery

Xinhua, October 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Vanuatu's Supreme Court has found the Pacific island country's deputy prime minister, parliament speaker and 12 other members of parliament guilty of bribery, local media reported Saturday.

Moana Carcasses, deputy prime minister; Marcellino Pipite, speaker of parliament as well as 12 other MPs, including government ministers, have been convicted as charged, according to the website of the Vanuatu Daily Digest.

The MPs were accused of accepting bribes earlier this year from then opposition leader Carcasses before supporting a vote of no confidence in the then government, headed by Joe Natuman, who was ousted following the successful passage of the no confidence motion.

In Vanuatu's politics, no confident motions are commonly seen.

Carcasses has reportedly admitted to offering loans to the MPs from his own funds, but denied those were bribes for the passage of the no confidence motion against the Natuman-led government.

However, with 112 items in evidence and 39 witnesses, the court concluded that the payments were corruptly given and taken to influence the public officials' roles.

Expected to be sentenced on Oct. 22, the MPs have announced their plan to appeal the ruling.

Vanuatu's parliament is unicameral and has 52 members. Endi