Mauritius issues arrest warrant against former central bank governor

Harvesh Kumar Seegolam faces questions in a probe into alleged conspiracy to defraud case.

Police in Mauritius have issued an order for the arrest of the Indian Ocean island’s former central bank governor in connection to an inquiry into a conspiracy to defraud case.

Former central bank governor, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, was out of the country and would be arrested as soon as he returned, police said in a notice in Mauritius newspapers on Sunday.

They provided no more details on the nature of the case.

Seegolam has yet to comment.

The action by the police anti-money-laundering unit is the first significant one from the government of Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who said last week the outgoing government had falsified the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), budget deficit and public debt figures for years.

In a report issued to parliament, Ramgoolam also accused the central bank of printing money to fund the government’s Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC), set up in 2020 to help companies deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was meant to receive funding from the bank’s official foreign exchange reserves, Ramgoolam’s report said.

“The printing of money by the Bank of Mauritius to fund the MIC was an irresponsible act which has had deleterious effects on the monetary system, more so that the banking system was already flush with excess liquidity,” the report said.

Ramgoolam returned to his post as prime minister after winning a landslide victory in the country’s parliamentary vote in November.

Mauritius, which sits about 2,000km (1,240 miles) off Africa’s east coast, is recognised as one of the continent’s most stable democracies and has developed a successful economy underpinned by its finance, tourism and agricultural sectors since gaining independence.

But allegations of corruption and fears around weakening civil rights in the country grew under then-Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, whose administration was also accused of playing a role in unauthorised wiretapping activities.