French Polynesia's appeal court has rejected a bid by the mayor of Papara, Bruno Sandras, to be relieved of the punishment given last year over the phantom job affair.
Sandras, who used to be a member of the French National Assembly, was given a suspended jail sentence and also ordered to vacate his office for three years.
He was convicted along with Gaston Flosse over the misuse of public funds to run a vast network of phantom jobs to enhance their party's powers in the 1990s.
Flosse was the president until last September when the French president, Francois Hollande, refused to pardon them over the issue.
Bruno Sandras Photo: AFP
