Samoa allegations / Marshal audit / Vanuatu pleading / PNG & Solomon forests

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P a c i f i c   A n t i - C o r r u p t i o n   U p d a t e s

From the UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption (UN-PRAC) Project, a joint four-year initiative of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, with support from the Australian Government. Updates shared by Annika Wythes, Luisa Senibulu, Samita Singh, and Mihaela Stojkoska.

Samoa:

Newly elected MP faces bribery allegations.  One of Samoa's newly elected woman MPs, Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuu'au, is facing allegations of bribery.  

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/299614/newly-elected-samoa-mp-faces-bribery-allegations

Marshall Islands:

Audit shows corrupt practices rife at environmental agency.  Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority management and staff used public money to buy air conditioners for their homes, cell phone cards, and food from local stores where EPA had accounts, the latest auditor general report to the parliament shows.  

http://www.mvariety.com/regional-news/84438-audit-shows-corrupt-practices-rife-at-marshalls-environmental-agency

Vanuatu:

Jailed MPs plead not guilty on pardon charges.  Eleven jailed politicians have all pleaded not guilty to charges of defeating the course of justice.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/299551/jailed-vanuatu-mps-plead-not-guilty-on-pardon-charges

PNG and Solomon Islands:

Corruption Threat to Pacific Island Forests. Forest degradation [in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands] driven primarily by excessive commercial logging, most of which is illegal, is a perpetual threat.

http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/03/corruption-threat-to-pacific-island-forests/

For more information on the UN-PRAC Project, you may get in touch with:

Annika Wythes, Anti-Corruption Adviser - Pacific, UNODC, annika.wythes@unodc.org

Luisa Senibulu, Governance Programme Associate, UNDP/UNODC, luisa.senibulu@undp.org

Samita Singh, Programme Assistant - Anti-Corruption, UNDP/UNODC, samita.singh@undp.org

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