Bruno Sandras (born 4 August 1961) is a

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

n politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He was a member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

from 2007 to 2012, representing the 2nd constituency of

, as a member of the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

. He was Mayor of papara from 2001 until 2014, when he was dismissed from office after he was convicted of corruption. Sandras was born in

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

in French Polynesia. After training as a lawyer he was general secretary of the ''A Tia I Mua'' trade union confederation from 1995 to 2000. He was elected Mayor of Papara in 2001. From 2001 to 2005 he was a member of the

Assembly of French Polynesia The Assembly of French Polynesia (, ; Tahitian: ''Te apoʻoraʻa rahi o te fenua Māʻohi'') is the unicameral legislature of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic. It is located at Place Tarahoi in Papeete, Tahiti. It wa ...

. In February 2005 following

Jean-Christophe Bouissou Jean-Christophe Matahuira Bouissou (born 28 October 1960) is a French Polynesian politician and leader of the Rautahi political party. He was Vice-President of French Polynesia from 2021 to 2023. Education and early career He received his degr ...

's resignation he was appointed to cabinet in

Gaston Flosse Gaston Flosse (born 24 June 1931) is a French Polynesian politician who has been President of French Polynesia on five separate occasions. He is currently a member of the Senate of France and has been a French junior minister under Jacques Chirac ...

's government, taking over Buissou's portfolios. He was elected to the French Assembly in the

2007 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, including Fran ...

as a candidate for the UMP. In the assembly he campaigned to retain a French military presence in French Polynesia, and for compensation for French nuclear testing. In 2010 the ''Nouvelles de Tahiti'' claimed he was one of the most passive delegates in the assembly, ranking him 516th of 577 members. In 2011 he attended sittings for only 5 weeks. He stood for re-election at the 2012 election, but was eliminated in the first round. Following his departure from the national assembly he worked as a civil servant for the French Polynesian government. He was re-elected as Mayor of Papara in 2008. In April 2009 he quit Tahoera'a Huiraatira, announcing plans to form a new party. In September 2009 he launched the ''Ia Hau Noa'' party. In February 2013 he quit the A Tia Porinetia party after a dispute over his ranking on the party list. In 2014 he was re-elected as mayor of Papara. At the

2018 French Polynesian legislative election Legislative elections were held in French Polynesia on 22 April and 6 May 2018. On 22 April 2018, voters cast their ballots in the first round of the election to the Assembly of French Polynesia. A second round was held on 6 May 2018 for the thr ...

he attempted to establish a party list with

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

, before signing a coalition agreement with Tahoera'a Huiraatira.

Corruption charges

In December 2009 he was ordered to pay US$100,000 after a court found that the government had unlawfully spent public funds. The order was overturned in 2011. In October 2011 he was convicted for his involvement in the "phantom jobs" scandal and sentenced to a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment and banned from office. The conviction was upheld on appeal in 2014. A further appeal against the ban was rejected in 2015. Following the appeal he was removed as Mayor of Papara.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandras, Bruno 1961 births Living people People from Papeete Mayors of places in French Polynesia Energy ministers of French Polynesia Environment ministers of French Polynesia Transport ministers of French Polynesia Union for a Popular Movement politicians Tahoera'a Huiraatira politicians Deputies of the 13th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic French politicians convicted of crimes