Louise Polleti, who lives in Dublin, this week wrote a letter to The Fiji Times denying that her son, Australian-born conman Peter Foster, is on the run from police. Polleti said that there was no proof to link her son with attempts to smear plans for a tourist hotel development on the island.

Reports in Fiji have claimed that Foster is on the run from police, who want to question him in relation to an internetbased attempt to destroy the reputation of a planned tourist resort. It is alleged that Foster was involved in setting up websites and chatrooms that claimed the planned resort was being marketed for homosexuals and would provide young Fijian boys for guests.

The aim of the campaign, it has been alleged, was to persuade the Fijian government to stop the development and back one linked to Foster. His whereabouts are not known. However, his mother claims that he is not on the run and has no need to hide. "There is no proof or evidence produced to link him with the alleged false internet sites, " she wrote in her letter to the newspaper, adding that her son was "away on a scheduled business trip".

Foster has been jailed in Britain, Australia and the US for offences of forgery and impersonation. Tony Blair's government was plunged into crisis when it was revealed four years ago that Foster was advising Cherie Blair on the purchase of two flats in Bristol.