The judicial authorities in French Polynesia have turned down a request by a French advertising executive, Hubert Haddad, to be allowed to return to France.
Mr Haddad is accused of paying nearly two million US dollars in kickbacks to the French Polynesian politician, Gaston Flosse, for getting public sector contracts.
As part of the investigation into the so-called OPT affair, he spent several months in jail in Tahiti where he was transferred after his arrest in France last May.
In his unsuccessful bid to go back to Paris, he cited health and family reasons for wishing to leave Papeete.
Mr Flosse has also been in jail for a few weeks as part of the probe which is yet to be concluded.