Our brilliant economist ,Kugan Parapen, had in a recent interview commented on the tug of war between the Gambling Regulatory Authority and the Mauritius Turf Club which was inevitable given the political setup.
“No one finances elections for fun. When you pour millions behind a political alliance, you expect your agenda to be fulfilled. In this instance, the victim seems to be a historical establishment and may be that is why it is getting so much attention. But this has been happening time and again. Some finance political parties so that they can destroy wetlands to erect a hotel. Others set their eyes on public beaches. Cronies exist at all levels of society. Think of all the juicy state contracts that are allotted under a mandate. Cronyland! .”
Indeed, but it’s no longer a question of being satisfied with the few crumbs on the table as leftovers.........this regime wants to take total control of the horse racing and betting business! How and Why ?
We are all aware that the the Turf Club, founded in 1812 to bring the British and Franco-Mauritians closer together, was an elite club in charge of horse racing in the capital; it was the exclusive domain of Franco-Mauritians and British colonial officials . The role of these clubs like the Dodo Club could not be disentangled from the maintenance of control over economic resources.
“Cultural differences were so engrained and essentialised in Mauritian society that whites-only clubs like the Dodo club, the Turf Club… were not targeted as racist expressions incompatible with a postcolonial society. This played into the hands of the Franco-Mauritians, as the private pole of their ethnicity could not be separated from the maintenance of economic privileges.” Tijo Salverda,”The Franco-Mauritian Elite: Power and anxiety in the face of change.”
It successfully played an important role in consolidating economic power ; a forum, a platform , a meeting place where wealth changed hands between Franco-Mauritian families, but it remained within the Franco-Mauritian community; where they also discussed the sharing of investment and/or participation in each other's businesses. And more importantly, the betting business also helped them to consolidate their hold on economic resources and to channel gains to preferred partners. They had total control. This powerful economic elite had privileged access to, or control over, particular resources that could be mobilised in the exercise of power . These resources included land, economic means, political control, religious control and access to means to extend this power-the horse racing and betting business.
Over the years the MTC has democratised with members from all the communities, even though Franco-Mauritians still represented a substantial element of the club. But with the strengthening of the money laundering legislations world wide and the proliferation of illegal betting and influx of minor players , our top economic oligarchs found it too risky to carry out business as usual. They gradually dropped off the scene leaving it to the smaller players-minor oligarchs and the “nouveau riche”. The smaller oligarchs tried to carry out the business by joining hands with the political elite in an attempt to regulate the business and control the spread of illegal betting, amounting to some Rs 5 to 7 billion, which was putting the club financially at risk. The Lam Shan Leen report had also drawn attention to the money-laundering mechanisms at the gambling and horse-racing level.
Meanwhile , the political elite was also trying it hands in setting up financial structures to enable the transfer of "gambling winnings" to bank accounts in Dubai and Switzerland, but without much success. They pretended to join hands with the MTC in curbing illegal betting. But, they had other designs; they were gradually and stealthily introducing some measures, in bits and pieces, via the Finance Bill, that was encouraging illegal betting while, at the same time, it was cementing its relationship with the gambling industry, a gaming mogul and the gambling mafia.
But with the publication of the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Mutual Evaluation Report for Mauritius. they had to tone down. The report found that the country’s AML/CFT regime “has not kept pace with the evolving global AML/CFT environment and therefore it has several weaknesses that negatively affect its effectiveness”. The findings were reviewed and endorsed by the FATF and we ended on its grey list. One of the reason for this greylisting was the non-existence of supervision of the non-financial sectors, especially of casinos, bookmakers and gambling activities, to combat money laundering. This was a serious indictment of Mauritius’ preparedness to take on money laundering, despite its formidable laws.
Our investors were seriously rattled, and our global business was being saddled with a paralyzing uncertainty about the status of Mauritius. The incompetent stooges in the different concerned institutions , guilty of grave irresponsibility since 2015 by not ensuring that Mauritius conforms to the minimum standards on the effectiveness of its AML/CFT system, had to rush in to implement various measures based on an action plan agreed with the FATF.
But as rightly commented by one our proficient commentator “The AML-CFT legislation is great on paper. In terms of compliance and enforcement, the results are very poor. The FAFT inspectors looked only at the legislation. They did not bother to look at the steps taken in terms of compliance and enforcement, seizure of illicit wealth, prosecutions and Court judgments.”
A similar comment in the April 2022 FT issue “ Analysts say the Mauritian authorities have work ahead of them to bolster the island’s international reputation. “Yes, they have complied with the recommendations of the FATF, but there is more to it,” says Richard Chelin, organised crime and corruption researcher for South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies. “Passing legislation is not enough. ….Broader reform and cultural change are needed to restore trust in Mauritius as a financial centre, Chelin says. “The government needs to be commended for the work it is doing in addressing concerns — but I think there is more work to be done.”
Once we were off the EU balcklist and the FATF grey list, the coast was clear for the regime to proceed according to its Machiavellic plan. There has always been a kind of tacit understanding between the economic and political elite not to encroach on each other’s turf and to support each other - I called it the ‘static coalition’ model between the family and cronies-dominated political elite and the island’s few families-dominated economic elite . This static coalition is reflected in the alacrity with which government rushes to the rescue of the private sector in terms of stimulus, subsidies, exchange rate support schemes in the face of any external shocks. This government’s assistance even extends to the interest rates and exchange rate policies. This understanding between the economic and political elite has till now prevented the political elite from launching a full assault on our traditional oligarchs’ economic resources-despite some periodic gimmicks and dramatic aggressive postures and shows for our gullible voters about the democratisation of the economy .
But our strongman, our autocrat has no time for such static coalition; he dictates his own terms to the coalition ; he has recast himself as our national hero who is bent on regaining our lost territory, excised from Mauritius at the time of independence with the "consent" of our unreliable political leaders of the time; now he is on a crusade against ‘ces blanc becs” and lackeys , intent on imposing upon us their MTC- their so called “patrimoine” they spent 209 years building which they claim is being jeopardised. Our spin dictator has already started working on them demolishing them bits by bits while he plants his stories of being our Don Quixote tilting at the windmills, brainwashing us into one-dimensional thinking against his till now coalition-friend, the oligarchs, using some co-opted heavyweights and such colluding media as the MBC and the self-censored Radio Minus.
But what he will not tell you !
Everything went more or less according to the plan they had concocted some years back. All their moves were strategic .. each pawn movement reinforcing the other....
> They started by staffing the regulatory authority with their own people ; they used the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on horse racing to their advantage-especially the major shortcomings with the activities, the operations and the governance of the Mauritius Turf Club(MTC).
> Then came the creation of a partisan Horse Racing Division(HRD) ; systematic amendments to the GRA Act with special clauses that removed major prerogatives from the MTC- control of race stewards, the appeal committee, of the the classification of horses, and appointment of judges which was entrusted to the HRD; the obligation for the MTC to convert into a public company, hence the creation of the MTC Sports and Leisure Limited;
> the expropriation of the intellectual property of the MTC, in particular the official programme; control over the Rules of Racing; the imposition of directives, rendering inoperative the race control practices of the MTC as the organizer of the races;
> the elimination of the Off Course bookmakers, causing a massive revenue shortfall for the MTC, a decision which benefits SMS Pariaz, holding the monopoly of fixed-odds bets off the racetrack; the increase in the Betting tax, the direct impact of which is the proliferation of clandestine bookmakers and illegal bets;
> new conditions for MTCSL to obtain its license to operate from the GRA ,the possibility of changing the Shareholding of the MTCSL to the detriment of the MTC which holds 100% of the shares, (if the MTCSL is not profitable) and the extension of the closed session for a whole season at the Champ-de-Mars, which considerably reduced income and economically strangled the MTCSL.
They have now taken over the whole business of horse racing and betting .
They are organising the races, they run the races, they control illegal betting, they will be getting their due share, they are happy, the gambling mafia is happy ……They have got their new money printing machine to build their war chest for the next election. …”Coffre Fort” will be a poor match…..
“Check Mate, Guys, We did it !” Pinocchio exclaims triumphantly…looking forward for 2024/5 ….
Money Politics digne d’un banana republic .
