The two former ministers of the MSM regime Renganaden Padayachy and Soodesh Callichurn were released on parole on Wednesday by magistrate Prashant Bissoon, sitting in the Port-Louis District Court. The Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) did not in fact present any objection to their release.
The two ex-ministers had to pay two bails of Rs 400,000 each, after a brief pleading from their lawyers, including Me Neelkanth Dulloo for Callichurn and Me Raouf Gulbul for Padayachy. They also had to sign an acknowledgment of debt of Rs 10 million each.
The Court also stipulated that the two defendants must not make contact, directly or indirectly, with other protagonists in this affair, including Rajiv Servansingh, former general director of the State Trading Corporation (STC), and Kareena Neisius, director of the Mercantile & Maritime Group (MMG) in Mauritius.
Renganaden Padayachy and Soodesh Callichurn each face a provisional charge of Public Official Using His Office for Gratification for Another Person, contrary to section 7(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (2002), which states that "any public official who makes use of his office or position for a gratification for himself or another person shall commit an offense and shall, on conviction, be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 10 years. The words "Another Person" in the preliminary indictment refer to Kareena Neisius.
During the appearance of the two ministers, a fairly large police force was deployed to prevent any excess. In addition to several MSM sympathizers, the presence of several former party ministers, who came to support their former colleagues, did not go unnoticed. We could see Deepak Balgobin, Stéphan Toussaint, Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, Avinash Teeluck, Mahen Seeruttun, Bobby Hurreeram and Joanne Tour pacing around the area. This case will be called in court again on Wednesday, October 28.
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