A date has been set in French Polynesia for the trial of a government assembly member accused of abuse of public funds and fraud.
Photo: RNZ
Benoit Kautai, who is also the mayor of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, will be in the criminal court on August 21st.
Mr Kautai, who in May was elected as an assembly member of the ruling Tapura Huiraatira Party, is alleged to have overcharged the territorial government for a roading project six years ago.
If convicted, he could lose his eligibility and be forced to quit the assembly.
He is the first assembly member in this term to be taken to court for alleged corruption.
Almost a third of the ruling party's elected members have corruption convictions, including its leader Edouard Fritch and the assembly president Gaston Tong Sang who was given a suspended prison sentence this year.
