The appeal court in French Polynesia has heard the case of a former president Gaston Flosse who appealed against his 18-month suspended prison sentence for abusing public funds by running a spy agency.
Gaston Flosse Photo: AFP
The prosecution now wants to lengthen the period Flosse is ineligible to hold office to three or four years, which would prevent him from standing in the next election.
In June, the criminal court made him ineligible for two years and fined him US$19,000 for abusing 10 million US dollars of public money to run the spy agency out of the presidency.
Flosse has told the court that his intelligence service was legal and had the backing of the then French president Jacques Chirac.
His lawyer says the case should be thrown out because it concerns matters of 20 years ago which can only be taken to court three years after the alleged wrongdoing.
The verdict of the appeal court will be released on February the 25th.
In June, the criminal court in Papeete had rejected that his intelligence service, which ran between 1997 and 2004, invaded the privacy of rival politicians, journalists and others.
All of the agency's records were destroyed in 2004 when he lost power.
Flosse lost office last year because of a corruption conviction.
He was in court three times this week in three different cases involving abuse of office or corruption.
In all three cases, verdicts are due early next year.
