The opposition party has addressed a letter to Ronny
Govinden requesting that his office initiate three investigations to look into
its allegations of financial mismanagement and worse.
Following its claim earlier this month that, in 2003, USD50
million briefly transited through the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) in
provenance of the United Arab Emirates before landing in a bank account at a
London branch of the Bank of Baroda belonging to a local parastatal company,
Lalyans Seselwa (LS) last week sent a letter to the Attorney General and board member
of the CBS, Ronny Govinden, requesting that he open an investigation into the
matter. This allegation prompted the Minister of Finance, Jean Paul Adam, to
state that there was no trace of such a transaction in the system, but LS
believes that “the competent ministries [should] liaise with the relevant
authorities in the UK and with the Bank of Baroda’s Headquarters to facilitate this
investigation, as the account belongs to an organisation of the Seychelles
Government”.
The correspondence, dated “Thursday 16th July 2016”, also
included requests from the leader of LS, Patrick Pillay, that the AG initiate
investigations into the controversial sale of the Plantation Club Hotel and
into the accounts of Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) since 1965 in order “establish how
much profit if any profit the IOT made during the period and how said profit
was distributed amongst the shareholders, which again include (sic) the
Seychelles Government’. On the same day that the letter was dispatched to the
Attorney General, Sun Extra, a free sheet published by the LS’ treasurer,
Vaithinathasamy Ramadoss, alleged that government, despite only being a
minority shareholder in the company, had for years subsidised IOT’s electricity
bills and wages to the tune of millions of euros to the benefit of the majority
shareholder, MW Brands SAS, a French “société anonyme”.
On the issue of the government- driven sale of Plantation Club
Hotel in controversial circumstances in 2008, Mr Pillay had this to say: “this
inquiry should clarify the exact amount for which the hotel was sold and how
much did the shareholders and other parties, amongst whom was the Seychelles
Government, get from the sale”. Despite only possessing 8% of the company that
owned the hotel, government took steps to wind the entity down following the Seychelles
Licensing Authority’s decision not to renew its operating license and ended up
selling the property to the lowest bidder. “Lalyans Seselwa and its members are
most concerned about these issues and feel that by conducting these
investigations, the best interest of the Seychellois public will be served.
Lalyans Seselwa trusts in your impartiality and in your dedication to honour
and uphold the Constitution of the Republic of Seychelles”, the letter
concluded by saying.
It remains to be seen how much traction the opposition party’s
requests will receive from the “competent authorities”.
Source:Today in Seychelles
