The jailed leader of the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP), Serge Vohor) and former UMP member for Port Vila, Tony Wright have been recalled from attending the UMP congress in Port Vila over the weekend.
Their attendance were approved by the Correctional Centre manager in the absence of the director, who was attending the ground-breaking ceremony of the new correctional centre facility on Santo Island.
However, the approval was short lived upon the return of the director of Correctional Center, Johnny Marango, and the Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Justice, Mark Bebe, who revoked the centre manager’s decision.
Government authorities imply that the approval to allow Serge Vohor and Tony Wright to attend the congress was pressurized by one faction of the UMP camp.
An attempt by certain members of the other UMP faction to get the Supreme Court’s direction to prevent the UMP president from attending the congress has also failed when the court said on Friday that the attendance of the jailed politicians rests entirely on the congress.
DG Bebe told the media the decision to allow the two detained former leaders to attend such meetings was against the terms and conditions of their sentencing under the leadership code.
Mr Bebe said the detainees can only be escorted out of the detention centre for their rehabilitation program or to the hospital or to meet with their lawyers.
Meanwhile it remains to be seen how government authorities will deal with - how the issue was handled by the correctional services staff.
Under the Correctional Services Act, a correctional centre manager has the powers, and such other powers as may be necessary or convenient for the performance of the manager’s functions under this Act but he cannot exercise his powers beyond the act.
Concerns were also riffled at how the jailed politicians were treated by the prison wardens and it was alleged that certain guidelines of the centre may have been breached by the wardens but no action was taken against them.
It was alleged that in recent past, prison wardens allowed MPs who are related to the jailed politicians to go in the correctional centre facility after 4.30pm with kava to drink with the detainees.
A senior member of the detainees was also spotted in a correctional services vehicle going to the petrol station to get fuel.
There were also claims that the imprisoned politicians were also been escorted to their homes to meet with families when they wish to, and had more frequent visits by relatives than any other detainees.
On a Saturday morning at about 9am, a g-plated vehicle was seen driving and returning a detained politician at the correctional centre.
There are claims that at one time the detained politicians were given a ride in the centre van by a correctional service warden around Port Vila and then returned back to the center.’
There are also reports that correctional officers were involved in arranging phone conversations between a detainee held in custody pending his trial, and his victim who was outside of the correctional services. The phone conversation was intended to persuade the victim to drop the case.
Police have been notified and are aware of the claims. A police insider confirmed they are closely monitoring the movement of the detainees but cannot take any further legal action unless a formal complaint is lodged by the relevant authorities concerned.
In the meantime, prison officers have received new instructions from the Ministry of Justice to cease all outing of the former MPs inside the correctional facility.