9 Dec 2013

Tahiti woman jailed for trying to use illegal money

6:41 am on 9 December 2013

A woman in French Polynesia has been jailed for two months for wanting to pay for petrol with a 100 patu note, which is the illegal money printed by the self-styled Pakumotu republic.

The group, which has its king and ministers, has been openly defying the French state for three years and it announced in October that the French Pacific franc would cease to exist at the end of this month.

The Pakumotu group says it plans to circulate one billion patu, with all its minister already being paid it.

Tahiti Infos says the woman in question, Nina Faari, who is a so-called minister, was arrested last week when she insisted on paying with patu.

She was detained and after being held for two days, she was jailed.

Inquiries are continuing, with the prosecutor warning that circulating an invalid currency can be punished with up to five years in prison.