Vanuatu conspiracy case

RNZ reports the MPs are currently serving jail terms after last year being found guilty of bribery for receiving money to cross the floor of parliament and change the government.

The conspiracy charge arose after the then speaker Marcellino Pipite pardoned himself and his colleagues of the bribery convictions.

Australian National University Policy Fellow James Batley said the latest judgement by the Supreme Court reinforces the earlier convictions

RNZ reports the former MPs were among the 14 sentenced to three years in prison last year on corruption and bribery charges.

The charges came after the MPs were pardoned of the offences by the speaker of parliament, Marcelino Pepite, who at the time was the acting president.

The president, Baldwin Lonsdale, overturned the pardons on his return to the country, and the Supreme Court later threw out the MPs' bid to have that decision dismissed.

Under the Vanuatu's law, the penalty for conspiracy is seven years in prison.

Four defense counsels will continue to fight their case by putting witnesses in the witness box to try to prove the innocence of the accused.

Yesterday, former acting head of State and former Speaker, Marcelino Pipite, former Climate Change Minister, Thomas Laken and former Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, Silas Yatan were cross examined.