14 jailed Vanuatu MPs told bribery is a cancer

Transcript

Vanuatu's Opposition has renewed its call for the Prime Minister Sato Kilman  to step down in the wake of the jailing of a quarter of the country's MPs.

Fourteen MPs including four ministers were sentenced on Thursday to prison terms ranging from three to four years.

The jailing has left the government benches half empty.

Sally Round reports

The deputy Prime Minister Moana Carcasses received the heaviest jail term of four years and the Speaker of parliament Marcellino Pipite received three years as did most of the other men.

Carcasses was described as the ringleader in the corruption scandal which took another twist two weeks ago when Pipite took advantage of the President's absence from the country and issued pardons for himself and the other MPs.

Those were revoked and sentencing went ahead in a packed courtroom with hundreds of people waiting outside.

Justice Mary Sey, the Commonwealth Secretariat appointed Supreme Court judge, said there was a need to send a strong message corruption would not be tolerated.

She described bribery as a cancer and she said breach of trust was an aggravating factor for the men.

MARY SEY: With power and authority comes an obligation of trust. You betrayed that trust and in the cause of doing that you undermined the very institution that it was your duty to uphold."

The court had earlier dismissed claims Carcasses' one-million Vatu payments  - about $9,000 - to each of the other MPs were loans.

Rather they were an inducement to help roll the the government of the former prime minister Joe Natuman.

Vanuatu's first president and one of the signatories to its constitution Ati George Sokomanu said it was a very sad day for the country.

He said the convicted men were people's fathers, uncles and sons.

ATI GEORGE SOKOMANU: It is a lesson to all of us that no one is above the law. We should respect the law and our constitution and follow the rules. It is really sad to see what has happened today especially in the history of Vanuatu.

A retired politician but former long time cabinet minister, Sela Molisa, was stunned by the sentences.

SELA MOLISA: It is really unbelievable what has happened. But the one good thing about this is at least the rule of law is still respected in Vanuatu and everyone respects the decision of the court which is very important for the long term future of the country."

The men's sentences began immediately. They were packed into waiting vans and driven across the road into a custodial facility.

One of the convicted, Willie Jimmy, shed tears as he walked from the court. He had been given a reprieve - a 20 months suspended jail term - after pleading guilty at the start of the trial.

Jimmy is among four state ministers convicted.

He says he was surprised to learn that taking a loan from Carcasses, the then Opposition leader, breached the Leadership Code.

WILLIE JIMMY: Although I was in Parliament when the Leadership Code was passed, including this Section 21, where we are not allowed, as leaders, to borrow money from unrecognised financial institutions. I did not realise that what we were doing could be charged under that law.

An observer and academic in Port Vila Tess Newton Cain says it is hard to predict what will happen next politically.

TESS NEWTON CAIN: The opposition withdrew the motion of no confidence that they'd originally lodged . They may elect to reinstate that. That's one possibility. Another possibility is that there may be some attempt to put together a government of national unity and from within the opposition grouping it seems to be that that is a possibility that they would contemplate but that would be subject to Sato Kilman standing down as Prime Minister.

The convicted men have two weeks to appeal.