Gaston Flosse and Hubert Haddad Photo: AFP
The prosecution in French Polynesia has refused to accept last week's decision by the judicial authorities to close the long-running OPT case and it will pursue the matter to Paris.
The authorities at the appeal court in Tahiti refused to order a fresh trial in one of the biggest corruption cases, saying the statute of limitations applied.
However the prosecution claims the authorities erred when they determined that a time lapse in the process was such that the case was now closed.
It said it would take the issue to the top court of appeal in France.
The publicly owned OPT telecommunications company said it would also lodge an appeal in its bid to recover $US5 million lost in the affair which centres on claims of protracted corruption.
In 2013, the criminal court in Papeete had convicted veteran politician Gaston Flosse for taking more than $US2m in kickbacks for granting contracts at the OPT to a French advertising executive Hubert Haddad over a 12-year period until the middle of the last decade.
In 2015, the case was thrown out on appeal over a procedural error, quashing the five-year jail sentences given to the two men.
The prosecution has since unsuccessfully tried to reopen the case and wants the appeal court in Paris to override the judicial authorities in Tahiti.
As part of the investigations a decade ago several suspects, including Flosse, were held in prison for up to half a year.
