{"id":161517,"date":"2015-10-22T11:19:02","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T11:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=161517"},"modified":"2015-10-22T11:19:44","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T11:19:44","slug":"vanuatu-court-sentences-14-mps-to-jail-for-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/10\/vanuatu-court-sentences-14-mps-to-jail-for-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanuatu court sentences 14 MPs to jail for corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"
Fourteen politicians in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu have been handed jail sentences for corruption.<\/p>\n
The members of parliament were convicted of bribery on 9 October, when President Baldwin Lonsdale was abroad.<\/p>\n
In his absence, Parliamentary Speaker Marcellino Pipite used his powers as acting president to pardon himself and the others.<\/p>\n
On his return the president overturned the pardons, and the Supreme Court has now ruled them unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
The verdict puts half the governing party’s MPs behind bars and makes it likely another election will be called, despite the current administration only taking power in June, according to New Zealand’s TVNZ.<\/p>\n