23 Jan 2009

AFP unaware of legal action by French Polynesia's Flosse

2:36 pm on 23 January 2009

The news agency AFP says it is yet to be notified of legal action taken against it by French Polynesia's veteran politician, Gaston Flosse.

This follows a news conference in Tahiti by Mr Flosse who says he has also lodged a complaint against the Tahiti Pacifique monthly and the television station France 3 in connection with the inquiry into the disappearance in 19997 of Tahiti journalist, Jean-Pascal Couraud.

He says he may also take action against the Tahitipresse news agency.

The nature of his complaint is not known but he says he is the victim of a manipulation.

It follows last month's reports of a document found in his home which gives an account of how Mr Couraud was seized and drowned by four men working for the now disbanded GIP intervention force.

He says the document, purportedly written by one of the alleged abductors, is a fake.

The GIP force ran an intelligence unit with the tacit knowledge of France and reported to Mr Flosse who was the territory's president at the time.

The probe into Mr Couraud's disappearance was launched more than four years ago after his family lodged a murder complaint against unknown persons