The 89 years old former president of French Polynesia is still the talk of the town… in court.
Gaston Flosse, the former strongman of French Polynesia was convicted of public insult against the lawyer of the mayor of Papeete, Dominique Bourion. He is expected to pay a total of 6,800 Australian dollars. The mayor had refused to register the former president of French Polynesia on the electoral roll of his commune. This is just another episode in the very long career of Gaston Flosse. The man who was a member of Jacques Chirac’s government under the presidency of François Mitterrand in the 1980s is indeed collecting convictions.
Repeated prison sentences
Back in 2009, Flosse was condemned to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of AUD 27,000 for embezzlement of public funds in the notorious Sushi case. He was also sentenced to 18 months suspended imprisonment, 2 years ineligibility and a fine of AUD 27,000 for using the Research and Documentation Unit to conduct surveillance operations on various individuals when the unit was set up to carry out statistical studies. Among other high-profile cases, Gaston Flosse was also convicted in a fictitious employment case.
A big fictitious jobs case
Between 1996 and 2004, political and trade union personalities and many militants close to Gaston Flosse had been paid from public funds, although they mainly served his party, the Tahoera’atira today. Gaston Flosse and the beneficiaries of these largesse will have to repay AU$4.6 million to French Polynesia and about AU$1.2 million to the Assembly of French Polynesia. Among those condemned are also the former President of the Assembly of French Polynesia, Justin Arapari, the Treasurer of Tahoeraa Huiraatira Marcel Tuihani, the current Housing Minister Jean-Christophe Bouissou, as well as several former mayors and trade union leaders….
At 89 years old, Gaston Flosse has not finished making a name for himself in the courts.
