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HONIARA - An anti-corruption watchdog in the Solomon Islands says Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's government is working to destroy the rule of law in the island nation.
Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) accuses Solomons Acting Attorney-General Nuatali Tongarutu of interfering in the judicial system by dropping charges against Commerce Minister Peter Shanel and her own brother.
Tongarutu last month stepped in to act as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), while that official was on leave, and dropped the charges against Shanel and Joseph Alamu, a senior office-holder in Sogavare's Social Credit Party.
It was not known what charges Alamu faced.
When DPP Ronald Bei Talasasa returned from leave he moved to restore the charges.
In a statement, TSI said Tongarutu's actions appeared to serve personal and political interests ahead of the nation's and was a clear abuse of office.
"This is a direct assault on the independence of the office of the DPP and represents serious interference in the nation's judicial and legal system."
Shanel was charged over false statements he allegedly made about issuing an exemption order when he was immigration minister to allow wanted Australian lawyer Julian Moti to enter the Solomons without a passport in October.
Moti is wanted in Australia to face child sex charges involving a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.
Sogavare wants Moti as his attorney-general but the Public Service Commission has suspended his appointment because of the Australian charges against him.
Canberra was angered by Moti's escape from Port Moresby on a PNG military flight and Sogavare's refusal to hand him over.
Sogavare has been embroiled in a series of diplomatic spats with Canberra since his election in May.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Friday took the extraordinary step of appealing directly to Solomon Islanders in a full-page letter in Solomons newspapers.
He said Sogavare was trying to destroy the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) which arrived in mid-2003 to restore law and order following years of ethnic tension.
Downer called on Solomon Islanders to support RAMSI and oppose Sogavare's plans to re-arm the police force.
Sogavare responded angrily in parliament, saying Downer had no right to communicate directly with the Solomons people.
He accused Canberra of trying to run a parallel government in his country.
TSI said the Sogavare government was guilty on several counts of undermining the legal system and due processes.
It cited the government's ban on Solomons Police Commissioner Shane Castles, an Australian declared an undesirable migrant and barred from returning to the Solomons from leave in Australia.
It also cited the government's refusal to allow a PNG Defence Force inquiry team to visit the Solomons to investigate Moti's escape flight and its plan to re-arm police without consulting Solomon Islanders.
"This all adds up to a very bad scenario for the rule of law in our beloved Solomon Islands."
- AAP
