Pravind Jugnauth has not kept quiet about Sherry Singh’s allegations against him on 01 July. During Tuesday’s Parliamentary Session, he revealed, “I filed a complaint on 11 July. I have asked the police to initiate an investigation”. He was responding to PTr MPs, Eshan Juman and Patrick Assirvaden during the PMQT.
PM’s explanation
In his explanation, the PM has made it clear to the House that his steps were guided by the fact that “these allegations are damaging to the country.” “It was my duty to report the case to the police,” he replied to the two MPs, summarising the case and stating that he had provided the police with all the documents and evidence to help them in their investigations. He took the opportunity to clarify that there was never any installation of equipment for sniffing or “interception” but a request for authorization for a Survey. “There was at no time an installation or an attempt to install a ‘device’ or equipment, either in one of the landing stations of the submarine cable to monitor Internet traffic to and from Mauritius.”
The PM wished to give maximum accuracy. “I will provide some information in order to clear the confusion, which has been created in the minds of the people as a result of false allegations by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mauritius Telecom (MT), and the hysteria of the Opposition over this matter,” he said before giving the background.
Chronology of facts
He explained that on 21 October 2021, the Security Division of his office issued a letter to the CEO of MT requesting him to provide certain information regarding the South Africa Far East Submarine’s ‘Landing Station’, located at Baie-de-Jacotet, Bel-Ombre, as part of a security investigation. The PMO’s Security Division was seeking more details about the location of the submarine cable, the security measures in place, the number of people working there, including any foreign nationals, and technical details about the SAFE submarine cable, among others. In the absence of a response, another letter was sent to Sherry Singh on 22 December. The response was received on 24 December. On 12 April 2022, Sherry Singh was informed that three persons of a technical team from India would be conducting the Survey on 13, 14 and 15 April, and he was asked to facilitate their work.
On 14 April, he met with the team leader to discuss the technical details of the Survey. “On the morning of 15 April 2022, I was informed that MT had not made the necessary arrangements for the team to have access to the Baie-Jacotet Landing Station so that the survey could be conducted. I subsequently called the CEO of MT and asked him to make the necessary arrangements for the Indian team to carry out the survey. Finally, he agreed to grant access to the Indian team.” Sherry Singh agreed and instructed MT’s Chief Technical Officer to accompany the Indian technical team. Pravind Jugnauth also added: “It is also pertinent to note that the Chief Technical Officer of MT was physically present at the site throughout the investigation. Furthermore, he has confirmed in a report that no sniffing or other equipment was installed by the said team at any of the Landing Stations, including the one at Baie de Jacotet,” adding that Sherry Singh did not at any time find it necessary to bring the matter before the MT Board of Directors.
Unanswered questions
The PM, however, questioned “why Sherry Singh has not gone to the police if he has such serious information against me? Why has he not provided his evidence to the authorities? I invite Sherry Singh to come and say what he has to say.”
However, the Prime Minister did not answer Patrick Assirvaden’s question, namely “was permission sought from the MT Board and the consortium that runs the SAFE cable?” nor did he answer the question “given the seriousness of the accusations made against you as the Prime Minister by the ex-CEO of MT, will you confirm to the House today that you made a statement to the police yesterday. In that case, considering that previous cases where members of your government, including Hon Collendavelloo, late Raj Dayal, Yogida Sawmynaden, were in the same situation as yourself, are you not thinking of tendering your resignation for the sake of transparency, if not the interest of the country, and come back as a result of the investigation?”
Eshan Juman asked the Prime Minister to expose all the documents exchanged between his office and Mauritius Telecom and then said “You are accused of high treason by none other than your close associate” for which he was expelled for using this term.
