Former Solomon Islands officials have disclosed Japanese payment for their pro-whaling vote, confirming that vote-buying has reached the Pacific.
The officials said the Japanese paid the Solomons’ costs of attending International Whaling Commission meetings in order to gain support and provided goods to be distributed by local politicians at election time.
Millions of dollars in cash paid for tuna fishing rights is also believed to have made its way into the hands of some corrupt Solomon Island officials.
Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research last night rejected claims of vote-buying, saying money may have been given by non-government organisations.
Contradicting Solomons Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza’s pledge to Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell, the troubled Pacific nation voted with Japan to lift the moratorium on commercial whaling at the IWC meeting in Ulsan, South Korea, last month.
Japan’s bid failed to reach a simple majority.
Conservation groups have long complained about Japan's vote-buying at the IWC. Japan now has a bloc of African, Caribbean and Pacific developing nations that, on paper, gave it a majority at Ulsan.
Only the failure of several of these nations to send representatives to the meeting prevented Japan from winning strategic votes requiring a simple majority.
Japan has repeatedly denied the allegations and has tried to have conservation groups that made them, such as Greenpeace and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, thrown out of the IWC.
The appearance of Nauru and Kiribati at Ulsan, alongside established members the Solomons and Tuvalu, heightened Australian concerns about Japan's influence in the Pacific. But diplomats from these nations denied in Ulsan that their votes had been bought by Japan.
Last night a former Solomons IWC commissioner, Albert Wata, detailed the payments on ABC television. “The Japanese pay the government subscriptions,†he said. “They support the delegations to the meetings, meeting air fares and per diem.â€
His claim was backed by former Solomon Islands fisheries minister Nelson Kile who said the fees had been paid by Japan for a decade.
It was also revealed that the Japanese paid part of the fees for rights to fish tuna there with goods, such as boats and fishing gear, at IWC election time.