Independent inquiry rules former Mauritian government minister should face possible prosecution

Roshi Bhadain, former Mauritian government minister, should face possible prosecution over the controversial cut-price sale of a stake in investment company Britam Kenya.

That is the key conclusion of an independent inquiry into the affair, which saw offers of up to 4.5 billion Mauritian rupees ($1,875,000) for a company eventually sold for little more than half that, 2.4 billion rupees ($1,000,000).

The deal was privately arranged, the commission of inquiry found, without officials present and little by way of record keeping.

Mr Bhadain ought to be investigated for: "Possible offences relating to forgery or making use of a forged document under the Criminal Code and/or giving false evidence in the proceedings before the commission may have been committed."

It added: "Facts elicited in this inquiry reveal the possible commission of criminal offences by a certain number of persons...They also reveal that the persons involved may have incurred civil liability for the manner in which they conducted the sale, keeping Cabinet in the dark, engaging their personal responsibility as opposed to Cabinet responsibility."

Any decision to bring charges would be taken by an independent prosecutor. The Mauritian government has not commented on the commission's recommendations, but it is understood it would be supportive of the prosecutor in these circumstances, underlining the country's commitment to the rule of law.

Mr Bhadain served as Minister for Financial Services, Good Governance and Institutional Reform in the administration of the current ruling party, the Militant Socialist Movement. He has since founded a new grouping, the Reform Party.

Britam Kenya was an investment company a stake in which formed an asset of BAI (Mauritius), a financial group which collapsed in 2015. The decision was taken to sell the stake to help pay back BAI investors and policyholders.

The insolvent BAI was under the control of special administrators Yogesh Rai Basgeet, a partner with accountant PwC Mauritius, along with Mushtaq Oosman, and they set about finding buyers for the Britam Kenya stake. Mr Basgeet told the inquiry that six investors approached them to buy the stake, which they valued at between 4.2 billion rupees ($1,750,000) to 4.5 billion rupees.

Both men seemed to have been eased out of their roles, to be replaced by Yacoob Ramtoola, of accountant BDO. The commission recommends Mr Ramtoola face possible prosecution for breaking "a prohibition by law [in order] to take up a professional assignment in conflict of interest and/or giving false information to the commission regarding the dates of professional engagements and/or giving false evidence in proceedings before the commission."

The commission found that Mr Bhadain and others opened discussions with Peter Munga, chairman of Britam Kenya, about the possibility that the company may buy out its minority shareholder, BAI. One document, said the commission, showed there had been a meeting with Mr Munga in Mauritius in November 2015, followed by a meeting in Nairobi later in the month.

Britam Kenya was to buy the stake for 2.4 billion rupees.

The commission is highly critical of the apparent secrecy with which meetings were conducted, without senior officials present. "On the face of it, there is no institutional memory at the Ministry concerned. No file. No minutes. No record at the Ministry concerned. Because public officers were kept out of discussions. Whether by choice, by accident, by design or by ignorance, it is hard to say."

It went on: "Minutes have not been kept. Meetings have taken place. There have been exchanges and discussions but no record exists. A file was opened. But it contains next to nothing."

The commission was personally critical of Mr Bhadain: "We would have expected ex-Minister Bhadain to take a professional approach to this Inquiry. Accordingly, his ambivalent stand has been enigmatic by any standard."

And it had this to say about the help, or lack of it, from the Kenyan side: "It is a matter of regret that the Kenyan witnesses were all talk and little walk. However, their relative reticence to collaborate and co-operate has not stopped the commission from getting to the bottom of things."

Mr Bhadain is not currently a member of parliament, having resigned his seat to fight a by-election, which he lost.