Opposition Leader, Xavier-Luc Duval returned to his PNQ in a press conference on Saturday 19 June regarding the poor quality of petrol on the local market between October and December 2019.
According to Xavier-Luc Duval, the answers of the Minister of Commerce Soodesh Callychurn on the presence of manganese in fuel in 2019, has shed light on what Xavier Duval describes as lies from his predecessor. The Opposition Leader points out that this matter had been the subject of a PNQ in February 2020 and the then Commerce Minister, Yogida Sawmynaden had responded otherwise. Xavier Luc Duval says that the latter did not at the time give real information on the problem of poor-quality fuel supplied by Vito Bahrain. According to Duval, Yogida Sawmynaden had claimed that he had appointed an Independent Investigation and then claimed that the quality of the fuel was up to standard.
Xavier Luc Duval added that the then Minister of Commerce had gone to Paris and a new contract was awarded to Vitol Bahrain by Emergency Procurement to supply Mauritius with fuel.
For the opposition leader, the government must give compensation to the 3,300 people whose vehicles’ engines were damaged. The damage was caused by what Xavier-Duval described as a lie and cover-up by former minister Yogida Sawmynaden.
