Mauritius's former finance minister was arrested and charged on Wednesday with "conspiracy to commit fraud" before being released on bail, according to a prosecution source.
The latest arrest of Renganaden Padayachy concerns alleged fraud against the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC), created in 2020 by the Bank of Mauritius to support businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, said police.
It was carried out at the request of the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC).
In this case, police are investigating the MIC's payment of approximately $1 million to Menlo Parks Ltd/Pulse Analytics, a polling company known for its political analyses on social media, said police sources.
Padayachy was released on bail, which was set at roughly $11,000, with the conditions specifying he was not permitted to have any contact with the other parties involved in the case.
He will also have to report to a police station daily, the prosecution source said.
Officers on Wednesday searched two properties belonging to the former minister, said a source close to the investigation.
Padayachy had already been charged with fraud over a previous case linked to the MIC, but was released on bail on Monday after five days in detention.
He and Harvesh Seegolam, the ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritius, are accused of having artificially inflated the valuation of a company, EastCoast Hotel Investment, in which MIC had invested. That investment lost approximately $6.7 million for the MIC.
Seegolam, also charged with fraud in the EastCoast Hotel Investment case, was arrested and then released on bail in January in the Menlo Parks Ltd/Pulse Analytics case, for which Padayachy was not initially charged.
Last year, a coalition led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam comfortably won parliamentary elections, regaining power in the Indian Ocean state after a decade in opposition.
The campaign was marked by concerns about the political and economic stability of one of Africa's wealthiest stable democracies.
AFP