The Solomon Islands government has sacked controversial attorney general Julian Moti and taken steps to deport him to Australia where he is wanted on child sex charges, officials said yesterday.
Moti, an Australian citizen, was dismissed from his post after he lost a legal battle to stay in the country.
"He has now received his termination papers," a spokesman for the prime minister's office said.
The government chief of staff Mathew Wale told Radio New Zealand that Moti would be deported within a week.
COURT RULING
In a weekend High Court hearing, Chief Justice Albert Palmer ruled Moti's right to remain in the Solomon Islands was by virtue of his political appointment and not as an individual.
The new Solomons government of Derek Sikua has pledged to send Moti back to Australia as part of its policy to improve relations with Canberra.
Sikua was elected prime minister of the impoverished South Pacific nation last week shortly after previous leader Manesseh Sogavare lost a confidence vote moved in part because of the nation's deteriorating relations with Australia.
BITTER STANDOFF
Sogavare, who appointed Moti as attorney general, was embroiled in a bitter standoff with Canberra and had refused to hand over Moti who is wanted for the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.
However, following the weekend court ruling Moti was dismissed and deportation moves are under way.
THIS WEEK
"It'll be within this week for sure," Wale told Radio New Zealand.
"The exact time and date is up to the authorities and obviously, working with the airlines. We don't have flights every day," he said.
"He doesn't have a passport and we are not terribly worried about that, that is up to his government, the Australian government to consider," Wale said.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS