Former Solomons govt official convicted of corruption

A former senior Solomon Islands government executive has been found guilty of 16 counts of official corruption by the Honiara Central Magistrates Court.

The ruling on Friday is being hailed by local police as a significant result in the fight against corruption.

The charges relate to the embezzling of more than a million Solomon Islands dollars from 2014 to 2017 by John Murray, who was the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development.

This involved the ministry's use of a car rental company which Murray co-owned.

The former official is one of several high profile people caught by a special corruption taskforce which is made up of police investigators, auditors from the Ministry of Finance and officials from the Central Bank of Solomon Islands.

Sentencing submissions for Murray will be heard before Chief Magistrate Emma Garo on May 14.