French Polynesia's so-called 'OPT affair' has been closed with the judicial authorities deciding that the statute of limitations now applies.
In 2015, the case was thrown out on appeal over a procedural error, quashing the five-year jail sentences given to veteran politician Gaston Flosse and French advertising executive Hubert Haddad.
Gaston Flosse and Hubert Haddad Photo: AFP
In 2013, the criminal court in Papeete had convicted Flosse for taking more than $US2 million in kickbacks for granting public sector contracts to Mr Haddad over a 12-year period until the middle of the last decade.
During the investigation of the case in 2009, Flosse was jailed for three weeks.
Haddad spent several months in prison in Tahiti after he had been arrested in France.
Flosse had admitted disbursing the money for private expenses.
Attempts by the prosecution to revive the case have been resisted by Flosse's lawyer and the authority ordering trials has now agreed with the lawyer.