Appeal date set for former Cook Islands deputy prime minister jailed for fraud

Former deputy prime minister of the Cook Islands Robert Tapaitau. Photo / RNZ Pacific

An appeal date has been set for former Cook Islands deputy prime minister Robert Tapaitau, who was convicted of fraud-related charges earlier this year.

The appeal is challenging Tapaitau’s sentence of two years and nine months imprisonment, handed down a month ago.

It will be heard on July 4, the Cook Islands News reported.

Tapaitau and two other senior public figures were convicted of taking $70,000 in public funds between April 2019 and March 2021.

He faced three separate charges of use of a document to obtain pecuniary advantage and one of conspiracy to defraud.

He was convicted of “all or most” offences - a ruling from Chief Justice Patrick Keane said.

Tapaitau was sentenced alongside former civil servants Ngatokorua Puna, who was jailed for five years, and Diane Charlie-Puna, who was sentenced to one year and six months in jail.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown in Rarotonga. Photo / RNZ Pacific

Tapaitau was first suspended from Parliament in 2022, when the charges were laid, but was reinstated by Prime Minister Mark Brown and successfully re-elected as Tongareva MP, before being suspended again during his trial in July 2023.

Tapaitau resumed his duties as deputy PM for the second time in November 2023.

A by-election was held in March for the vacant Penryn Island seat, which was won by Sarakura Tapaitau, the former PM’s wife. Albert Nicholas was named the Cook Islands’ deputy PM.