Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) |10 January 2020

Erica Naidoo (Photo: Joena Meme)

Two witnesses appear in yesterday’s open sessions

Only two witnesses appeared in open session of the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) yesterday while two cases were held behind closed doors and another had to be rescheduled.

Case 031/032/033

Antoine Lau-Tee appeared before the commission yesterday morning Via Skype in the morning. Ex-police officer Lau-Tee, who resides in Canada was in as a witness in cases 031/032/033 related to the disappearance of Gilbert Morgan on February 7, 1977.

Mr Lau-Tee was working in the criminal department of the police force at that time and he was assigned to investigate the case. He noted that it was Silvia Morgan (Gilbert’s wife) who physically reported the disappearance of her husband at the criminal department on the day of his disappearance. She had told the police that she had seen his car, still parked at the Reef Hotel, on her way down and he (her husband) was nowhere to be found.

Mr Lau-Tee, who noted he had known Mr Morgan very well during those days, said that through his investigation it came to light that the latter, who was having a beer, must have left the hotel on being signalled by somebody he must have known very well. He further said that according to Mrs Morgan, her husband used to hang around with people like Philippe D’Offay (a coup member) among others (he didn’t want to mention their names in the open session but will do so confidentially) and one of them, he said, could have lured him out.

He stated that on searching his car he found no clues connected to his disappearance but on searching his residence at Turtle Bay, Anse Aux Pins, he found a book he was reading with a section separated with a page marker and it was titled ‘the making of a president’. He said that he came to the conclusion that Mr Morgan was planning a coup around the same time that France Albert Rene was also in the process of planning his own. He noted he came to that conclusion because on one occasion when they had met at the Barrel Bar, Mr Morgan had told him that he had no idea how many guns Mr Rene had but knows how many he had in his possession on Ile aux Recifs. He furthermore noted that both men were recruiting the same men to join them.

Mr Lau-Tee explained that his investigation led him to Ile au Recife several times and he found marks of explosions and corrugated iron sheets filled with holes. He said that he also met two fishermen who told him that they had seen a boat at the island with several persons on board who had threatened them with guns to leave the area. They had told him that they had noticed former President Rene among them including a certain Mark Ah-Time, a person they had also recognised and was said to have been responsible for opening the armory at the Police Mobile Unit on the day of the coup of June 5, 1977.

He added that his criminal investigation report on the incident was analysed in his presence by the then President James Mancham and the then commissioner of police, Mike Rawlings and President Mancham later ordered the then Prime Minister, Albert Rene, to send out a R20,000 reward notice for any information on Mr Morgan’s disappearance.

Mr Lau-Tee said that after the coup, he once met Phillipe D’Offay who told him that he was the only person they were afraid of and that he was under constant watch through binoculars at Mr Rene’s resident at Exile during his investigation on Ile aux Recifs. He noted that Mr D’Offay also told him that if he had looked carefully below the sea he could have seen bullet casings that they had thrown. On asking who killed Mr Morgan, he said Mr D’Offay replied that he was not present and does not know anything as he was on the other side of the island.

Mr Lau-Tee told the commission that from his conclusion, Mr Morgan was kidnapped and brought to Ile aux Recifs to show his captors where he had hidden the guns and was afterwards killed with his body thrown in the sea. Without identifying the killer, he stated that it was former President Rene and his henchmen who were responsible for the disappearance of Mr Morgan. He further said that Mr Rene must have known that Mr Morgan was planning a coup and had guns on Ile aux Recifs because both were recruiting the same persons to work for them and one or some among them could have alerted him.

He said that after the coup, he was brought to the Central Police Station and was ordered by high ranking police officer James Pillay to hand over the case file on Mr Morgan to be given to Mr Rene and from there he had never heard or see the file again.

Mr Lau-Tee further said that after some time on May 15, 1981, he along with thirteen officers, were unlawfully evicted from the force and in July, 1981, he immigrated to Canada.

Case 0100

Erica Naidoo was the person identified by Soona Oliaji to give evidence as a witness in her case 0100 in relation to being unfairly treated by the state through its price control and monopolisation of certain food items by its state own import and retail food company which affected its importation and retail business.

Mrs Naidoo, who had worked with Mrs Oliaji for 49 years, said that her boss’ business was targeted for unknown reason and was at many times denied import permits, denied foreign exchange in the pipeline and late release of imported merchandised thus in a way getting the business to close down. She noted that for many years the shop was not able to import anything to sustain the running cost and the sixty-two employees, some of whom voluntarily resigned.

Mrs Naidoo further said that her boss once called on the chief executive (CEO) of the government owned food import and retail company, the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB), to know as to why she was denied everything in the food importation business in the country and she said that her boss had told her after the meeting that the person in charge, Mukesh Valabji, told her that her business will eventually close down.

She stated that the state had targeted Mrs Oliaji’s business because she was outspoken against the government, because of the students’ strike in 1982 where she had said that as a by stander she only gave soft drinks to the students and also because she was the one involved in mounting a court case against the state for the introduction of price control.

Patrick Joubert