31 Jan 2018

Taiwan accused of bankrolling Solomons slush fund

1:33 pm on 31 January 2018

Taiwan has been named in a local media report about a multi-million dollar slush fund for Solomon Islands' prime ministers.

Solomon Islands money

Photo: ppart/123RF

The Island Sun newspaper claimed it had obtained documents proving that since 2015 the office of the prime minister has received an annual grant of up to $US2.1 million from Taipei.

The paper reported one of the documents it obtained dated back to 2015 when the then prime minister Manasseh Sogavare asked his caucus how best to utilise the grant dubbed the Prime Minister's Discretionary Funds.

It said caucus decided the money should be shared equally among government MPs.

The office of the prime minister in Solomon Islands has declined a request for a comment on the article.