Seven former Members of Parliament (MPs) out of 14 who were jailed for bribery in 2015 are among the interested applicants who have submitted their applications to contest the snap election on 13th of October.
They are Moana Carcasses Kalosil, Serge Vohor, Sailas Yatan, Thomas Laken, Tony Nari, Jonas James and Marcellino Pipite.
Pipite and Yatan told Daily Post yesterday that there is only one pardoning, not two. They said there cannot be seperate pardonings of the sentence and the conviction.
The duo claimed that the pardoning of their sentences covered also their conviction because there is only one pardoning.
Among the seven former MPs who applied to contest the snap election, only Vohor and Kalosil received a full pardoning from the former President of the Republic, Pastor Obed Moses Tallis.
The seven applicants are among the 14 former MPs who were found guilty and were jailed for corruption and bribery after they received VT1 million each in their respective bank accounts at that time from Kalosil.
Vohor plans to contest the snap election in Santo under his newly launched political party — Pikinini blong Graon Movement, Pipite under the Vanuatu Republican Party, Kalosil in Port Vila under Vanuatu Green Confederation, Yatan under Vanuatu Green Confederation in Tanna, Tony Nari in Pentecost under Pentecost Island Custom Movement, James under Union of Moderate Parties in Paama and Laken under the Reunification Movement for Change.
Their names, like other applicants are yet to be announced publicly by the Electoral Commission.
Source: DailyPost
Melanesia News 