The police evidence against businessman Danesh Ellayah was deemed “weak” by the Port Louis Court in a decision made on Thursday, April 25, 2024. Magistrate Warda Peerally Sayed-Hossen also criticized the police investigation.
Danesh Ellayah, who was provisionally accused of collusion with Sherry Singh, former CEO of Mauritius Telecom (MT), in an alleged multi-million dollar fraud related to a Smart Boxes 4K contract in 2018, had the charges against him dropped on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
Magistrate Warda Peerally Sayed-Hossen of the Port Louis Court dismissed the provisional charge.
The magistrate highlighted the weaknesses in the evidence presented by the police, noting that the investigation conducted by the Special Striking Team (SST) was lacking.
“I hold that the nature of the evidence against the suspect (Danesh Ellayah) that the police has put before the court is weak,” wrote the magistrate.
Additionally, she pointed out that there was no complaint from MT in the case.
The investigators’ approach was also severely criticized. “I find it arbitrary for the police to rely on the price at which the boxes were sold to MT by Anglomobility to suggest that there is reasonable suspicion against the suspect when MT had previously bought the boxes at about the same price,” emphasized Magistrate Warda Peerally Sayed-Hossen.
The court’s decision followed a motion presented by Danesh Ellayah’s lawyers, Gavin Glover, Senior Counsel, and Yash Bhadain.
They cited the lack of reasonable suspicion by the police to charge their client on September 1, 2023.
The prosecution, represented by Ronish Bangaroo, Senior State Counsel, opposed the motion.
During the hearings, the lead investigator testified that Danesh Ellayah was suspected of colluding with Sherry Singh to benefit from the contract to supply a set of Smart Boxes to MT through Anglomobility, based in the United Arab Emirates and directed by Danesh Ellayah.
However, the Court noted that “no evidence was presented to establish” whether at the time of the allegations, Danesh Ellayah was a director of Anglomobility.
Working for Huawei, he had used a Huawei email address to invite MT to request a quote from Anglomobility.
The lead investigator also revealed that a request for international judicial assistance was made on January 29, 2024.
It emerged during cross-examination that the purpose of this judicial assistance was to discover the directors of Anglomobility, among other things.
He acknowledged that the alleged fraud stemmed from the significant profit made by Anglomobility from selling the Smart Boxes to MT.
The magistrate clarified that her decision “is not to be construed as a finding of guilt or a lack of. Should stronger evidence come to light (…), against the suspect (Danesh Ellayah), the prosecution is not debarred from entering a main case against the suspect (Danesh Ellayah)”.
Source: Defi Media
