Source: Radio New Zealand
The former head of the now disbanded French Polynesian GIP intervention force, Rere Puputauki, has appeared in Papeete’s criminal court over charges over the running of the now defunct group.
The prosecution has asked for him to be jailed for six months for using dozens of GIP members between 2003 and 2005 to transfer tuna boats from China and South Korea to Tahiti for use in his private business.
Meanwhile later this week, the appeal court is to hear another case involving Rere Puputauki where he is challenging a five-year jail sentence given last year over a fatal shipping accident in 2003.
The Tahiti Nui IV sank off Rimitara, killing seven sailors, with those responsible for the GIP’s vessel convicted for involuntary homicide.
The GIP was formed as a militia-like unit by a former president, Gaston Flosse, and provided among other things shipping services but also accommodated an espionage unit, whose activities, although illegal, were tacitly tolerated by the French authorities.