Vanuatu MPs to get gratuity payments - even jailed ones

Members of Vanuatu's Parliament who served between 2012 and 2015 will receive gratuity payments including some who were jailed for corruption.

Fifty-two members including 14 former MPs who were jailed for corruption in 2015 are eligible.

Under the law, MPs are entitled to $US35, 000 each at the end of a four-year parliamentary term.

The 2012 parliamentary term was dissolved by the President amid a constitutional crisis in 2015.

But the Financial Controller in the Parliamentary Secretariat, Willie Watson, said the figure for the jailed MPs has been adjusted because they did not serve a full term.

The total gratuity payout for the 52 MPs is 290 million vatu, or about $US2.5 million.

Photo: RNZI/ Walter Zweifel Vanuatu parliament building in the capital Port Vila.