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Officials of the Caledonia Together party will be tried for embezzlement

2023-05-31T15:32:16.086Z

Highlights: Senior officials of the Caledonia Together party (non-independentist) have been referred to the criminal court of Noumea. They are accused of embezzling public funds between 2014 and 2019. The main figure and founder of the party, Philippe Gomès, will be tried alongside the president of the South Province, Philippe Michel. The hearing is set for December 12, 2023, according to a source close to the case. The first case of the same nature was dismissed in 2009.


Senior officials of the Caledonia Together party (non-independentist) have been referred to the criminal court of Noumea for...


Senior officials of the Caledonia Together party (non-independentist) were referred to the criminal court of Noumea on suspicion of embezzlement of public funds when their party was at the head of the South Province between 2014 and 2019, we learned from a source close to the case.

Main figure and founder in 2008 of the party, Philippe Gomès will be tried alongside Philippe Michel, president of the South Province at the time of the facts.

Fictitious jobs

In accordance with the indictment of the Prosecutor General's Office at the end of 2022, the investigating judge issued an order for referral to the criminal court on 22 May. The hearing is set for December 12, 2023.

The investigations made it possible to "demonstrate the existence of a vast system of fictitious jobs linked to the Wallisian and Futunian community for the benefit of the Caledonia party together", according to elements of the referral order seen by AFP, which concerns five members and former members of the party. It points to a "system at the center of which Philippe Gomès (former deputy of the second district, editor's note) is based on elected and administrative members of the presidency of the South Province".

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Philippe Gomès had already been implicated in a case of the same nature in 2009, for facts that took place under his presidency of the South Province between 2004 and 2009. This first procedure ended in 2014 with a dismissal. "I am quite calm, we will put forward our arguments at the hearing," Philippe Michel said Tuesday on the television news of New Caledonia.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-05-31

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