Eduoard Fritch and Gaston Flosse during the election campaign in 2013 Photo: RNZ Walter Zweifel
The appeal court in French Polynesia has heard the case brought by the president Edouard Fritch and his predecessor Gaston Flosse, who last year were convicted and fined for the abuse of public funds.
The two had been convicted for their actions as current and former mayors of the town of Pirae from the late 1980s onward when they had arranged for the town administration to pay for the water supply to the upmarket Erima neighbourhood, where Flosse lived.
The prosecution told the appeal court that Flosse, who set up the scheme, should be given a suspended two-year prison sentence, fined $US100,000 and be declared ineligible for public office for life.
It wants Fritch to be fined $US15,000 for allowing the abusive billing process to be continued.
In the criminal court last year, Fritch was fined $US50,000.
A verdict is expected in the next few weeks.
The trial was originally due last month but was deferred because both men had contracted Covid-19.
Because of corruption convictions, Flosse had been barred from public office for five years from 2014.
The two politicians fell out after Flosse lost power, and last year Flosse was fined $US20,000 for making defamatory statements about Fritch.