A lot’s been made recently of New Zealand’s suspension of justice aid to Nauru. One point two million dollars of annual justice aid is on ice because of the way Nauru’s Government has used its justice system against  opposition MPs and critics.

However there’s a deeper story about the actions of Nauru’s president, Baron Waqa, and its Justice Minister, David Adeang, that might not be as well known to New Zealanders. Australia’s ABC ran some stories earlier this year that  show just how serious the situation in Nauru really is, and just how compromised its leadership may be, both legally and ethically.

In June the ABC reported that both the President and the Justice Minister were implicated in receiving bribes while opposition MPs in 2009 and 2010. The money allegedly paid to them by an Australian phosphate firm. The issue was investigated by Nauru police but the Commissioner was suspended and then dismissed shortly after the Waqa Government took office.

 Full details can be read here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-08/nauru-president-and-justice-minister-allegedly-bribed/6530038

Also disturbing are matters around the decision made by Nauru’s Government to dismiss and deport former Magistrate Peter Law  in 2014. He was at the time, according to the ABC’s report, looking at conducting a coronial inquiry into the death of Justice Minister David Adeang’s late wife. She is reported as having burned to death in the vicinity of the Adeang  family home in 2013.

The allegations raised by the ABC have been vehemently denied by the two Nauru politicians. David Adeang has said on the public record that the bribery allegations have been disproved and were the brought about by disgruntled ex-government staff. The Minister’s threatened the ABC with a defamation suit and has said the accusations were initiated by those associated with Nauru’s former  Government. A regime he’s labelled corrupt and subject to cronyism.

When asked publicly about these issues both our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister say they have no knowledge of them. This does not, and cannot, ring true. Our MFAT officials may be many things, but this is not an issue that would pass by them unnoticed. It is clear something, possibly many things, are not right in Nauru. New Zealand should not turn a blind eye to them.