Rs 39.7 Million Paid to Conservator in 13 Months as Silver Bank Collapse

Grant Thornton was paid a staggering Rs 39.7 million in fees between February 2024 and March 2025 as the troubled Silver Bank saga unfolded, it was revealed in Parliament December 2025. Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam laid bare the exorbitant costs, describing the Silver Bank affair as “one of the most scandalous financial dossiers of the previous era,” characterised by a massive influx of public funds into a “fragile bank” and the “derisory recovery” of “highly toxic” loans.

Escalating Conservator Fees

The colossal sum paid to Grant Thornton (Advisory Services) Ltd and its director, Arvindsingh K. Gokhool, along with CEO Sattar Hajee Abdoula, was for the services of the Conservator designated by the Bank of Mauritius (BoM) on February 13, 2024, under the Banking Act.

• Initial fees were set at Rs 3.5 million per month.
• The BoM later renegotiated the fees to Rs 2.5 million in November 2024, and then to Rs 1.5 million in December 2024.
• As the bank’s sale process stalled, fees were drastically reduced to Rs 300,000 per month starting from February 1, 2025.

When Mr. Gokhool left the firm on March 31, 2025, the fees were redirected to Vedaanta A&A Services Ltd, a company of which he is the sole shareholder and director. This new entity has already received Rs 2.3 million since April 2025.

‘Grave Incompetence’ and Toxic Loans

The Prime Minister highlighted the initial, controversial injection of Rs 3.55 billion from public bodies into Silver Bank under the previous government.

This occurred despite a clear circular recommending that they should invest in Treasury Certificates instead.

Ramgoolam stated that the move was intended to “artificially embellish” the financial statements of a bank that had “no trustworthy track record.”

He called the decision “grave incompetence bordering on financial criminality,” noting that over Rs 900 million remains unpaid to date.

The most worrying aspect, however, remains the bank’s financial health:

• Since February 2024, only Rs 206.3 million has been recovered from loans totalling Rs 8.2 billion.
• This minute recovery rate of just 2.5% “overwhelmingly demonstrates” the toxicity of the portfolio, which the Prime Minister attributed to the “interference and laxity of the previous government.”

The revelations came during a parliamentary question raised by Deputy Roshan Jhummun on Tuesday, December 2.

Ramgoolam concluded that the situation “illustrates the gravity of a failing system where public funds were imprudently exposed and control mechanisms were voluntarily weakened.”

Source: l’Express