Anti-Corruption Commission becomes laughing stock!

The Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles (ACCS) has recently been ridiculed by public opinion after a press conference in which it gave new information regarding its investigation into the disappearance of 50 million US dollars from state coffers in 2002. The commission’s chairperson May De-Silva told reporters that the ACCS has made progress on the case and that recently it has opened a new line of inquiry as fresh information has surfaced.In the initial stages of the investigation after the matter was brought to it. The ACCS said it would be very difficult to work on the matter as it dates some 18 years ago. At the time Ms. De-Silva said that generally banking institutions keep records only up to seven years and this makes the case difficult as it happened in 2002. It was clear that excuses were being made at the initial stages of the case to justify non-investigation of the matter.

The money was a donation from the UAE to tide Seychelles over during the economic crisis at the time. The money was paid into the Central Bank and then it was paid out -but where and whom to? This matter came to light during the time of construction of the palace at La Misère, when The Seychelles Weekly under Editor Ralph Volcere exposed the story. However, the whole investigation came about after the creation of Lalyans Seselwa in 2015, when Patrick Pillay and his party started to raise questions again about the money. In 2016 the 50 million dollars became the main thrust of the opposition camp’s political campaign with LDS promising to unearth the truth about the money and make anyone who may have pilfered it, pay back!

Collaborating with the inquiry, the government sent its minister to the UK to the London branch of the Bank of Baroda, as it came out that the money was transferred into the Seychelles Marketing Board account with that bank. The minister came back empty handed as they said the bank only had records for the past seven years and not beyond. It wasPresident Faure who said the money was used to pay for food imports by SMB.

Since 2016 this subject has been kept under public scrutiny. At a certain point Ms. De-Silva said the money was never paid into SMB account and the ACCS was unable to establish what happened to that money. However, in her press conference last week she said yes, the money was indeed paid into an SMB account.She said that the Bank of Baroda in London has recently made new information available and from this a new line of inquiry has come up. The so called new information show that indeed the money was transferred into the SMB account, but not where it went from there. Responding to questions from journalists she was adamant that she never said the money did not go into the SMB account. This led to some motivated members of the public to research the previous interview in which she made the statement and circulate the relevant extract on social media.

The dead cannot speak!

The credibility of the ACCS went on even shakier ground, when she (CEO ACCS) said that at least one of the persons who allegedly knew something about the 50 million, gave a written statement of all his knowledge on the matter. That person was former President France Albert Rene, who passed away last year. The weakness in that statement is why; has the ACCS never mentioned this before, even though that matter had remained in the public domain and Mr. Rene died in March 2019?“

It would have had some credibility if when Mr. Rene gave that so-called letter to the ACCS, a public announcement to the effect was made even if the contents of the statement had remained confidential. This should have been done when Mr. Rene was still alive, then he could have either confirmed this or denied it as fake news! However, now it is impossible to do anything about the authenticity of the letter as Mr. Rene died over a year and a half ago and it is a legal parlance that-The dead cannot speak”, so even if the statement by former President Rene were true it holds no value now as it hadn’t been validated while Rene was still alive! Why did the ACCS kept totally silent until now about the letter from Mr. Rene! Maybe, the ACCS can provide the public with an explanation.