The Mauritius government has issued an arrest order for its former finance minister, Renganaden Padayachy, in relation to a probe into a reported embezzlement, a police notice in local newspapers had revealed on Tuesday, days after the former central bank governor’s arrest.
The central bank chief, Harvesh Seegolam, was however, released on bail over the weekend after he was detained and charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.
The arrest order against Padayachy and the charging of Seegoolam were the first important moves by the government of Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who accused the previous administration of forging GDP, budget deficit and public debt figures for many years.
In a report to parliament, Ramgoolam, as the finance minister, accused the central bank of printing money to fund the state-owned Mauritius Investment Corporation, established in 2020 to help companies deal with impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Padayachy’s arrest notice said it was in relation to the investigations into “an alleged embezzlement involving the disbursement of 45 million rupees to the detriment of the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC), in favour of the company Menlo Park Ltd.”
