In a press conference this morning, Paul Bérenger returned to the issue of Mauritius’ removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list. He said that this is “good news”. He also welcomed the imminent removal of the country from the European Union’s blacklist. “It is only a matter of days,” he said.
But Paul Bérenger also recalled that it is “because of the government that Mauritius found itself on the grey list of this organization”. He recalled the Sobrinho case and other scandals. But the MMM leader said, in response to the Prime Minister’s attacks, that the leaders of the L’Espoir cartel had “not done or said anything” that could have hindered Mauritius’ removal from the grey list.
On the political front, he said that time must be given and that things are moving in the right direction.
Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Bill: The government’s objective with this bill is to control social networks says Bhadain
For the leader of the Reform Party, what the government failed to do with ICTA’s project, it has included in the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Bill. “The abuses we denounced at the time will become legal once the bill is voted,” he said.
For Roshi Bhadain, the government’s objective with this bill is to control social networks. He therefore asked all the population to read carefully this bill which was introduced in first reading in the National Assembly last Tuesday. For him, there are several aspects that are unconstitutional and that violate the rights of Mauritians. He stressed that it will take time to challenge them, once the law is passed, before the courts. “In the meantime, a lot of damage will have been done,” he added.
Roshi Bhadain dwelt on the definition of certain offences. He took the example of the word “harm”. “This concept has become so broad that anything you can imagine can be included,” he said. He explained that under the bill, the term ‘harm’ includes sexual abuse, neglect, mistreatment, degradation, discrimination, exploitation and even impairment to health or development.
“We needed a law. There are new offences that need to be covered. But to come and control people’s lives and take away some of the fundamental rights of Mauritians, only a madman could have such an idea,” he said.
