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A man wanted for child sex crimes in Australia will be reinstated as chief law officer of the Solomon Islands, the Solomons government said, in a move likely to inflame tensions with its biggest aid donor.
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare accused the Australian government of political persecution against his chosen Attorney-General, Australian citizen Julian Moti, who is wanted in Australia over alleged sex offences in Vanuatu in 1997.
"If I didn't believe for one moment that this whole case wasn't (sic) fraught with unconscionable and politically-driven lies on the party of Australian government officials, I would have cut Mr Moti adrift months and months ago," Sogavare said in a statement.
Moti was cleared of the charges by a court in Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, but Australian citizens can be charged with sex offences committed overseas.
The latest move will further damage ties between the tiny Pacific islands nation and Australia, its largest aid donor.
Canberra is spending about $AU840 million ($NZ939 million) to maintain peace in the Solomons, after the nation came close to collapse due to violence and mismanagement, and Australia has led the aid effort after a tsunami hit the islands on April 2.
In March 2006, Australia sent about 500 extra troops and police to the capital, Honiara, to quell riots that destroyed Chinese businesses, and still has about 130 police and troops in the country alongside forces from New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
But Sogavare's initial appointment of Moti as his attorney-general saw the bilateral relationship collapse, with Sogavare expelling Australia's top diplomat and stalling over receiving a new Australian envoy.
In February, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer angered Sogavare when he wrote an open letter to the Solomons people, asking them to support Australia's plan to maintain peace and order and combat corruption.
The Solomons, once a British protectorate, has about 500,000 people spread over 992 tropical islands covering 1.35 million sq km.
