Vanuatu's jailed former Prime Minister Moana Carcasses is being released today after serving two years of a four-year jail term.
Carcasses is among 14 former MPs, including Marcellino Pipite, who as acting speaker of parliament used presidential powers to pardon himself along with the rest of his group after they were found guilty of corruption and bribery charges.
On return from an overseas trip the then Head of State, Baldwin Lonsdale challenged the decision and the men were jailed.
The corruption and bribery charges involved an amount of $US324,000 which Carcasses said he gave to his colleagues as personal loans.
However, the current deputy prime minister Joe Natuman, who was then prime minister took the case to court saying it was a deliberate act to topple his government.
Source: Radio NZ
