Former Mauritius Telecom Procurement Head Faces Legal Setback

Dharmadutt Gokulsing, the former Head of Procurement at Mauritius Telecom (MT), has suffered a significant legal setback. On Friday, August 16, 2024, the Port-Louis court rejected his motion to dismiss the provisional charge of abuse of power brought against him.

The charges stem from allegations that Gokulsing favored the companies DNS International Ltd and DNS Consult Ltd during the awarding of a contract related to the “MyT Money 2.0/MT Fintech Project” in June 2020.

Gokulsing was indicted on September 15, 2023, and sought to have the provisional charge dismissed, arguing that there were no reasonable grounds for suspicion against him.

His case is part of an ongoing investigation initiated by the now-defunct Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), and later taken over by the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC).

According to Senior Investigator Deepchand, the investigation began in February 2023, following a complaint from the current Chief Executive Officer of Mauritius Telecom regarding alleged irregularities in numerous contracts awarded by the company between 2015 and 2022.

In total, the contracts under scrutiny amount to Rs 2.8 billion. One significant contract involved the development of the “MyT Money 2.0” application, valued at Rs 475 million.

This particular contract was awarded to DNS Consult Ltd, which represents the Indian company Intellect Design Arena (IDA).

However, the investigation uncovered discrepancies in the selection process. During the evaluation, the committee initially shortlisted two bids: one from IDA and another from Temenos, a different international firm.

While Temenos’s initial proposal included all required components, including hardware, IDA’s proposal was found to be non-compliant with Mauritius Telecom’s specifications.

Despite this, Gokulsing failed to take any action to report this irregularity.

After reviewing the evidence presented, the court concluded that there were “sufficient grounds” to uphold the provisional charge against Gokulsing.

The case has drawn significant attention as it highlights concerns over transparency and accountability in public procurement processes.

Source: Defi Media