FEW elected politicians match the audacity of those who govern Vanuatu, in the Pacific islands. On October 22nd 14 of them, including two former prime ministers, were jailed for corruption. The convicted MPs are half of those sitting on government benches. Only a few days earlier they had made a remarkable attempt to pardon themselves. Now the administration seems likely to collapse.
Corruption scandals and political upheaval are a familiar theme in the scattered archipelago of 281,000 people (Vanuatu has seen 22 changes of prime minister since its independence in 1980). What distinguishes this latest scandal is how openly the politicians involved flouted the law; as a result, this is the first time that sitting MPs have been successfully prosecuted for graft.
On October 9th Vanuatu’s Supreme Court found that in 2014 the country’s then opposition leader, Moana Carcasses Kalosil, had offered legislators a total of 35m vatu ($300,000) to support a no-confidence motion. The government fell in June 2015, and Mr Carcasses became deputy prime minister in an administration led by Sato Kilman.
The court convicted Mr Carcasses for corruptly seeking to procure...Continue reading
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