Mauritian police have issued an arrest warrant for the country’s former central bank governor on allegations of conspiring to defraud the government.
Mauritian police have issued an arrest warrant for the former governor of the Indian Ocean island’s central bank as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to commit fraud.
The move by the police’s Financial Intelligence Unit marks the first significant action by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam’s administration, which accused the recently ousted government of manipulating Mauritius’s GDP, budget deficit, and public debt figures for years.
In a statement published in Mauritius newspapers on Sunday, police announced that former central bank governor Harvesh Kumar Seegolam was currently abroad and would be arrested upon his return to the country.
No further details on the nature of the allegations were disclosed.
‘Printing money to fund post-COVID recovery’
Seegolam did not respond to requests for comment.
In a report presented to Parliament, Ramgoolam accused the central bank of printing money to finance the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC), a state-owned entity created in 2020 to support businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report indicated that the investment was initially intended to be funded through the central bank’s official foreign exchange reserves.
“The Bank of Mauritius’ action of printing money to finance the MIC was an irresponsible move, resulting in harmful effects on the monetary system, particularly as the banking system was already flooded with excess liquidity,” the report stated.
