The Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe (MLSTP) has accused President Fradique de Menezes of brewing up a political storm by rejecting a government proposal to sack the islands' foreign minister, who allegedly pocketed aid money, said reports on Friday.

A statement from the political commission of the MLSTP, which dominates the islands' legislature, said on Thursday that de Menezes bore "full responsibility for the embarrassment."

The country's biggest party was reacting to the president's rejection of the proposal made on Monday by Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silva for the dismissal of Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Ovidio Pequeno.

According to Sao Tome media reports last week, the country's top diplomat had spent 407,000 euros (about 488,000 U.S. dollars) on various goods, including cars for the Foreign Ministry, bypassing government controls.

But Pequeno said the cash had been a "one-off" donation from the king of Morocco to Menezes, rather than an aid donation in the context of bilateral cooperation, and could therefore be spent without authorization from the prime minister, who also serves as finance minister.

Meanwhile, President de Menezes has accused the government of " fabricating" a scandal to discredit himself and opposition forces ahead of elections slated for later this year.

Source: Xinhua