A complaint has reportedly been lodged with the police in French Polynesia over an alleged phantom job at the territorial assembly, implicating three politicians, including the president, Edouard Fritch.
Abuse alleged at territorial assembly Photo: RNZ Pacific / Walter Zweifel
The public broadcaster says the complaint was lodged by a citizen, Yves Conroy, who in the late 1990s lodged a similar complaint against the ethen president, Gaston Flosse, resulting in him last year getting a suspended prison sentence and losing office.
The latest case centres on the hiring of a mayor from the island of Raiatea, Cyril Tetuanui, by his wife, Lara Tetuanui, as an assistant in her office at the assembly in Tahiti for 30 hours a week.
Mr Conroy says this is a blatant abuse because Mr Tetuanui is always absent from the office in Papeete.
Mrs Tetuanui says the disclosure is a stunt driven by Flosse who this month expelled her from the ruling party because she decided to stand for the French Senate next month.
She says she has adhered to assembly rules and her husband has always accompanied her on her travels around the territory.