A Vanuatu State minister obstructs officers on duty to defend Chinese shop owner

The Daily Post has been reliably informed that that a Chinese shop owner used a state minister to defend his business when he was caught red-handed selling liquor last weekend.

According to an eye witness, VMF officers who were patrolling areas of Port Vila as part of the Zero Tolerance operation, caught the owner of the KFC shop at Korman area selling liquor in the late hours of Saturday night.

When the officers made an attempt to arrest the shop owner, the state minister and another Ni-Vanuatu intervened and obstructed the officers.

It was alleged that the minister concerned, who it is alleged was the Minister of Justice, told the officers that they could leave the case in his hands to handle.

The minister, however, was not able to convince the officers to follow his instructions. They continued doing what they were assigned to do and went ahead and arrested the shop owner.

The Daily Post has contacted the minister concerned, Jonas James, to get his side of story, but he said he could not comment on the issue.

Source: Vanuatu Daily Post