The headlines of Vanuatu's Daily Post newspaper blare the headline, "Kidnap and Breach of Diplomatic protocol: Kilman" . This is the country's Prime Minister's opinion on the arrest of his private secretary, Clarence Marae in Australia late last month.
The Australian Federal Police made the arrested Marae following his connections with Australian accountant Ian Henke who was involved in a multi-million dollar tax avoidance and has now been arrested and jailed.
What is funny to note is the fact that PM Kilman can label this arrest as an act of "kidnap"! The dictionary definition of "kidnap" is "taking (someone) away illegally by force, typically to obtain ransom". Now I am definately sure that the AFP nor the Australian government want any ransom from Marae or from the Vanautu government because that would be when diplomatic relations would definately be breached.
As Karma quotes go, "What goes around, comes around" therefore I think the past has definitely caught up with Mr Marae.
And so life goes on...Of the many articles published this week concerning the recent arrest of Clarence Marae, private secretary to Vanuatu’s Prime Minister at Sydney International Airport, only one goes any way to explain why the Australian Federal Police may have taken the action they did. Ilya Gridneff, writing on May 2 says: “The Herald understands that the arrest is connected to the joint operation Project Wickenby, run predominantly by the Australian Taxation Office. Mr Marae is an alleged associate of the Victorian accountant Ian Henke, who in March last year was jailed, along with two Queensland accountants, for their roles in a multimillion-dollar tax avoidance scheme.”If this is indeed the basis for Marae’s arrest it not only shows that the AFP have very long memories, but also that one can never really escape one’s past – whatever that past may be.
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