and Climate Change), the press noted "his unwavering support for the West Papua cause", and his opposition to Indonesia's participation as an observer in the Melanesian Spearhead Group - a position which contrasted with his predecessor's. He entrusted his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edward Natapei, with a clean-up of the selling of diplomatic passports by previous governments. Within the first few days of the Carcasses government, the passports of "about ten" diplomats were revoked, with indications that more than two-thirds of the country's diplomats could lose their position, as their appointment had not followed proper procedures. Bribery In October 2015, Moana Carcasses and 13 other MPs were found guilty by the Vanuatu Supreme Court of bribery under the Penal Code. (An additional MP, Willie Jimmy, had already pleaded guilty, and another, Robert Bohn, was acquitted.) Carcasses was Deputy Prime Minister at the time of his conviction. The court found that Carcasses, together with Tony Ngari MP, had offered bribes totalling $452,000 to the other MPs to secure their support in a motion of no-confidence to oust the government of Joe Natuman. The judge, Justice Mary Sey, refused to accept the defence argument that these payments were development loans. At one point during the trial, Carcassess was accused of threatening a witness. Additional charges of inappropriate giving of loans under the Leadership Code Act were dropped after it was ruled in a separate court judgement that the Ombudsman had not followed proper procedure in preparing a report into these allegations. In the aftermath of the verdict, Carcasses called for calm and for people to respect the law. He was not among the MPs who faced additional charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after Speaker of Parliament Marcellino Pipite, one of the convicts, attempted to use his powers as Acting President to have himself and the others pardoned. Carcasses was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment; most of those whom he had bribed received 3-year jail terms. The case was widely acclaimed as a positive step towards tackling corruption in Vanuatu. References 1963 births Living people Prime Ministers of Vanuatu Deputy Prime Ministers of Vanuatu Finance Ministers of Vanuatu Foreign Ministers of Vanuatu Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu Green Confederation politicians French Polynesian emigrants to Vanuatu People from Tahiti Vanuatuan people of French descent Government ministers of Vanuatu Heads of government who were later imprisoned