The Nauruan government is facing a major crisis as new documents emerge that place the president, Baron Waqa, and justice minister, David Adeang, at the centre of bribery claims.
On Monday the ABC published extracts from emails that appear to disclose that Waqa and Adeang were allegedly bribed by Australian mining company Getax.
The email extracts from the ABC show in a 2009 email that Adeang emailed a former Getax director and said: “We can create a new business relationship that can take this country to a higher level of development and of course taking also your business to even more success”.
In response the director said: “We give you full authority to mobilise or lubricate the MPs to secure the vote and win the battle”.
In a press release last week the Nauruan government preemptively attempted to discredit the ABC program, and suggested it was an opposition plot.
Adeang said in a statement: “We were shocked to hear that the opposition has gone to Australian media with baseless claims going back six years, all of which have been consistently disproven, and to be honest are of no interest to Australia as they are Nauruan domestic matters.
“The journalist effectively bailed up our president in a house in Brisbane and attempted to intimidate him. This was orchestrated by our own opposition MPs who refuse to put Nauru’s interests ahead of their own.”
Separately, proceedings relating to human rights violations at the Australian-run detention centre on the island have also edged one step closer, after a motion to strike out the claim by the government failed on Monday.
The Australian government has maintained that it has foreign immunity and can not be joined as a party to the case surrounding human rights, but the motion to strike out the asylum seekers’ case failed.
The outcome of the case could see the Australian run detention centre on the island closed. A contempt of court application has also been filed against the Nauruan secretary of justice over abuse of process in the proceedings.
The Australian barrister who was scheduled to appear for the asylum seekers and in separate proceedings relating to the deportation of former Nauru resident Rod Henshaw had his visa denied by the secretary, with no clear justification provided.
Guardian Australia also understands there is growing dissent among the island community, and protests may take place at the next sitting of the Nauruan parliament on 18 June.
Further concerns continue to be raised about Nauru, with the blocking of several websites including Facebook and the recent deportation of the general manager of telecommunications provider Digicell. The Nauruan government also passed a new law that could see people jailed for speaking out against the government.
