Court Clears 2 Mauritius Telecom Executives of Favoritism Allegations

On December 16, 2024, the Port-Louis court dismissed provisional accusations against Yogendresing Soobul and Chandrakumar Ramkissoon, two executives from Mauritius Telecom (MT). The duo had faced allegations of misusing their positions to unfairly benefit two companies during the contract awarding process for the MT Fintech Journey/MyT Money 2.0 project.

Soobul, who serves as MT’s Chief Innovation Officer, and Ramkissoon, the Head of Mobile Financial Services, were temporarily accused of engaging in actions for personal gain, allegedly violating provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, specifically Articles 7(1) and 83.

However, during a hearing before Magistrate Rajenee Seegobin, the court validated a motion to drop the provisional charges, presented by defense attorneys Rajesh Unnuth and Neeroo Ramdharry-Sowambur.

The prosecution, represented by Me Lovendra Nulliah of the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC), did not contest the motion, acknowledging that while investigations remain ongoing, he agreed to withdraw the charges based on the lack of reasonable suspicion linking the executives to the alleged misconduct.

Unnuth and Ramdharry-Sowambur argued that the evidence brought forward by the now FCC—previously known as the Independent Commission Against Corruption—was inconsistent regarding their clients’ involvement.

The defense also claimed that the provisional charges amounted to an “abuse of authority” by the FCC and violated the constitutional rights of the MT executives.

The allegations in question dated back to June 2020.

According to the accusations, Soobul, at 45 years old, along with his role as a member of the bid evaluation team for the project, supposedly engaged in questionable actions to ensure that a contract worth approximately Rs 412,430,000 for a mobile banking system solution was awarded to Intellect Design Arena (IDA) and DNS Consult LTD, both owned by businessman Danesh Ellayah.

Ramkissoon, 34, who was also part of the evaluation team, was similarly accused of taking steps to favor the same companies.

As the case stands, both executives are cleared of the provisional charges, though the ongoing investigation raises questions about potential future proceedings.

Source: Defi Media