Corruption at PUC –allegations mounting

The Independent newspaper has stumbled over what we believe is major corruption going on within the PUC. We were investigating a complaint of ill treatment and unfair dismissal by a former employee, when we realized that there was more to that story than meets the eye. We proceeded to speak to several former employees who left the company on their own accord and many others who got sacked maliciously, because they didn’t fit in the setup of the Managing Director for Electricity –Ravin Sun as see. So our first questions are: are his superiors turning a blind eye? How can this be happening right under the nose of the CEO of PUC –Philip Morin? Is the Government investigating it? Has LDS caught wind of it and is keeping quiet?

We have discovered that experienced Seychellois personnel were pressured to leave the company to make way for the recruitment of foreign workers. The expats are preferred over the Seychellois because they keep the secrets of the bosses at PUC under wraps. We were able to establish that the family of a top official in PUC Electric was renting out accommodation to PUC’s foreign workers. It was also known that the same person had rented out his own house to the French management team when they were running the organization. The same man has several houses and has also built on the properties of his relatives. The value of his properties are estimated to be worth many millions of rupees.

TOP PEOPLE

There are allegations of corruption in regards to construction projects involving top people in PUC Electricity with the involvement of at least three construction companies where exorbitant prices are paid out for the projects that are not worth even half the amount. The 33KV project, which is the laying of underground cable for the South of Mahe, which is worth tens of millions of dollars is also a big cause for concern. And to add insult to injury the whole project is considered to be an abject failure under the leadership of Sunassee, and at an exorbitant cost to the taxpayer.Both the US Executive and the LDS-led National Assembly are ignoring the mess in the South of Mahe by these cowboys at PUC.

CONSPIRACY

There are even allegations of scams in the hiring of vehicles, where kickbacks are said to be the order of the day. There is also an ongoing rip-off of taxpayers’ money where a supervisor on the instruction of his boss is recording 300 hours of overtime each per month for some Malagasy workers and the money is shared amongst the conspirators. The managers are also pressured to sign and approve payments for invoices that they know nothing about just so that the boss can siphon money from the company. When former President Rene died PUC bought 10 power fans, which were not really needed, which have all disappeared and for the presidential elections of 2015, 24 electric generators were bought and that too disappeared without trace. The bosses are not involving Seychellois employees deliberately in many projects because they want to keep their trickery under wraps and awayfrom prying eyes; these are projects such as the 33KV in the South of Mahe, Sub Stations at Aucap, Port Glaud, Anse Royale and Baie Lazare. There are also widespread ill treatment of Seychellois workers to pressure them out of the company so that foreignworkers can be recruited instead for ease of operation by the thieves at PUC.We had wanted to discuss all of the above with CEO Morin but we missed our appointment and couldn’t get another one. We have reported all of the above and more to the ACCS for an investigation so that the authenticity of the allegations can be established.