Jeremiah Manele faces the biggest crisis of his prime ministership, with a no-confidence motion being filed in Solomon Islands parliament.
In-Depth Solomons reports that former prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo tabled a motion on Friday, a day after the government revealed its annual budget.
The tumult could also scupper or delay a fresh policing pact with Australia, which the ABC reported separately on Friday.
Mr Manele has been in talks with the Australian government over increasing the size of the Solomon Islands police force.
The ABC reported an agreement has been reached and plans were made for an announcement next week for a "substantial" boost in police training and numbers.
That was until opposition MPs revealed plans to move on Mr Manele, a first-year prime minister who took office in May following a national election, succeeding fellow OUR Party leader Manasseh Sogavare.
Mr Lilo made a number of claims to In-Depth Solomons, including that Mr Manele was unable to "control his ministers".
"The economy is getting worse and worse every day and Manele is doing very little or nothing to address the problem," Mr Lilo said.
"The prime minister was also unable to rein in on the duty exemptions that his government has been giving away to its business cronies."
Parliament speaker Patterson Oti confirmed receipt of the motion, as reported by another Solomon Islands media outlet, Tavuli News.
Mr Lilo led Solomon Islands between 2011 and 2014, then left parliament for a decade before returning in the 2024 election.
He also cited a piece of investigative reporting by In-Depth Solomons, which showed the OUR Party president Jimson Tanangada and Mr Sogavare's son, Brandt Sogavare, set up a shell company in Singapore with a Chinese partner, as another reason for the no-confidence motion.
The company, called the OUR International Development Fund, was set up two months prior to the election.
Mr Sogavare said his son advised him the company could obtain funds for party use in the Solomon Islands, and he advised him against its creation.
Obtaining funding from overseas is legal under Solomon Islands electoral law, although sources must be disclosed.
The no-confidence motion must sit on parliament's books for a week before it can be brought on, meaning a debate could happen from Thursday.
