Solomons angers Australia over fugitive appointment

SYDNEY, July 10 (Reuters) Diplomatic ties between Australia and its small neighbour the Solomon Islands soured further today when a man wanted for child sex crimes in Australia was sworn in as the Solomon's chief law officer.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard condemned the appointment of Australian citizen Julian Moti.

''It is a very provocative and insensitive thing for somebody who is wanted on a criminal charge in this country to be sworn in as attorney general,'' Howard told reporters in Sydney.

''The first law officer of the crown in the Solomon Islands is apparently going to be somebody who is wanted on a child sex offence. I think that is quiet extraordinary.'' Bilateral relations between the Solomons and Australia plunged late last year when Moti evaded extradition when he escaped to the Solomons from Papua New Guinea.

Moti is wanted in Australia over alleged sex offences in Vanuatu in 1997. Moti was cleared of the charges by a court in Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, but Australian citizens can be charged with sex offences committed overseas.

In his swearing in speech Moti said there was no case for him to answer in Australia, after being cleared in Vanuatu.

''Justice will finally triumph... when the responsible Australian prosecutorial authorities confront our government's lawyers to discuss what was fact and what was fiction in the case which they want to mount against me,'' he said.

''I am legally advised that there is no legal justification for the institution of any charges against me on the evidentiary material supporting Australia's request for my extradition.'' But the latest move will further damage ties between the tiny Pacific island nation and Australia, its largest aid donor, which has called for Moti not to be sworn in but returned to Australia.

Canberra is spending about 840 million Australian dollars (724,000 million dollars) to maintain peace in the Solomons, after the nation came close to collapse due to violence and mismanagement, and Australia has led the aid effort after a tsunami hit the islands on April 2.

The Solomons, once a British protectorate, has about 500,000 people spread over 992 tropical islands covering 1.35 million sq km.

REUTERS AGL HS1346