Pada will surely go down in our short economic history as the champion of crony capitalism and nepotism and hailed as the master of financial fraud and corruption; he may be leaving his mark as one among the most corrupt Finance Ministers the country has ever known. (As corrupt as some previous ones , the ones viewed as trojan horses of the private sector dutifully carrying out the agenda of their backers and sponsors). At present, when the ex-African finance minister of the year is being brought to justice , I am being reminded of the few, the very few, of such bedrocks, of such principled civil servants who refused to toe the line, to be subservient to the emperors of the day and for having the guts to stand up to the Finance Minister and his lackeys. Hats off to my ex-colleagues , Mr Visvanaden Soondram, ex- Deputy FS, and Mrs Cheung Kai Suet, ex-director of Statistics Mauritius (SM) qui ont payé un prix fort en tenant tête à Padayachy; indeed a very high price for refusing to be stooges at the service of the political elite or other lobbies for such and such projects and programmes or for objecting to commit a crime against the nation by fudging the figures …
Their refusal to be "suiveurs", to be bootlickers , to be "rodeur-boutes" should not be in vain; their actions should pave the way for a total clean up at the Ministry of Finance and its corollary institutions…the culprits should not be allowed to walk away scot-free despite committing a crime against the Nation.
We will do them justice if in addition to J. Bissesur and the Chokra & others, the acting FS, the macro-fiscal team at MoFED, the concerned officials of the MRA and SM, and the advisers are all sanctioned .
And ensure that this Govt put the right people in the right place so that our country can restore the credibility of our institutions.
The quality of people matters, whether they lead the state, public institutions, or private family enterprises.
Pritbeeraj Bheem SinghI am still guessing how these henchmen did not have the capacity to say 'no' to ministers when asked to indulge in fraudulent matters. How come what we presumed to be intelligent people have bowed so down to please the ministers, advisers, politicians, 'les potentats'.
Let us believe that this serves as an opportunity to move with CCTV recordings when board matters are discussed, senior officials start believing that adhering to ethics and integrity will save the country from business malpractice.... Just hope that each public and private official start his / her new journey with the intention to develop a new learnable skill: integrity.
Deva ArmoogumQuestion is where to get the right people, having both integrity and competence. It's become a rare commodity.
Pritbeeraj Bheem SinghDeva Armoogum this is what I am saying: competence is a developmental process through self learning, involvement and integrity is putting in action and learn from it... Because th are learnable skills... Practice as a daily activity at work, at home, in public life... One thing at a time until it becomes a bundle.
Mishra VidyadharDeva Armoogum it's not a rare commodity. We have more than enough people with integrity and competence but our corrupted politicians will never allow them the chance to play their roles fully.
Remember corrupted politicians will always look for corrupted officials to carry out their dirty tasks.
Nalini BurnThank you
Rattan, for naming and honouring your colleagues. Too often there are so many convenient, cynical stereotypes about civil servants
Prak NeeConsequences of Yes Minister
Apparently both the ex CEO of MIC and the ex governor of BOM have said they received orders from the ex minister of Finance to approve a decision whereby the MIC was defrauded of Rs 300 million in a deal of Rs2.4 billion (purchase of shares) in favour of a private corporate group.
The ex governor initially claimed he did not sit on the board of MIC and was not accountable for its decisions. The ex CEO exercised his right to silence until he was locked up for a few days. So both have now presented a new defence: they obeyed orders from the ex MOF, who was consequently arrested and charged with abuse of position.
The question is: why do directors of boards of public bodies take instructions or orders from ministers? Are they not competent and independent enough to make decisions based on the facts of a business case? Or do they not have enough self assurance to make decisions? Or still do they like to say Yes Minister to please the powers that be as sycophants endowed with unjustified privileges?
The “Yes Minister” mentality is the root cause of all corruption in Mauritius. All codes on corporate governance will be worthless if people in positions of responsibility do not act honestly and don’t have the courage to say NO to a wrong ministerial order. These people cannot say no because probably they were not hired on their merits. They benefited from political patronage and in return they had to give back to their sponsors.
As long the public sector appoints people in high positions ( director or CEO) based on political proximity ( not competence), corruption, fraud and money laundering will continue. Public institutions are only as good as the people who manage them.
Sameer SharmaDid the CEO have any prior experience in the field of investment let alone distressed and special situations investing? No but he still took the job anyway to be a good puppet .
Did any member of this joke of a Board have any skills and experience in this field ? No and the former chairmen seem to have been focusing on getting a free trip to the island hotels.
Boards of investment entities do not do decisions on individual investments. That's the role of the investment committee and fund manager. The whole setup is a joke
Pada populated the Board with known private sector middle man , a fraudster and a few clowns. They all accepted their jobs and took advantage. What does that say about Mauritius?
I sadly know all those individuals during my stint at the BoM including Moliere. They were all as dumb as a nut but in the land of the dodo, the more you fail , the more you succeed.
Did we not just see another incompetent person with a Grey history with third party vendors get a nomination recently in a big institution?
There are more deals that are messed up. Many more .
