French Polynesia's president is due in court today accused of abusing public funds.
Edouard Fritch will be tried with his predecessor Gaston Flosse for their actions as mayors of the town of Pirae from the late 1990s.
They are alleged to have arranged for the town administration to pay for the water supply to the upmarket Erima neighbourhood, where Flosse lived.
The charges followed a 2011 auditor's report which found that Flosse set up the free supply which Mr Fritch continued, with both of them billing the town.
Today's case is Mr Fritch's first during his current term, after being convicted of corruption twice during his previous term.
In the current case, he was charged before last year's election but a first attempt to try him last year was deferred because the court was busy with the Air Moorea crash trial.
Gaston Flosse haD been barred from public office since 2014 because of corruption convictions.
French Polynesia's president Edouard Fritch (centre) and president of French Polynesia's assembly Gaston Tong Sang Photo: supplied
