Commission of inquiry to start hearing key parties in Plantation Club case |01 September 2020

Mr MacGregor

The Commission of Inquiry set up recently to investigate the money trails in regards to the sale of the Plantation Club Resort and liquidation of the Ailee Development Corporation Limited is set to hear key parties involved as from tomorrow.

The hearing session has been scheduled for 10am at the Auditor General’s conference room at the Unity House and will be open to the public.

The Commission of Inquiry was established by President Danny Faure in mid-June this year following a recommendation made by Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey in her 2019 ruling of the case brought by EDOC, parent company of Ailee, against the liquidator Ernst & Young, represented by Gerard Lincoln.

The Supreme Court’s ruling noted that “the concerns raised in this case need to be addressed in a forum outside this court where they relate to unexplained money received and disbursed by the government through Central Bank in respect of the Plantation Club” and recommended the president to institute a commission of inquiry to further delve into the matter.

On the Commission sits former President of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis MacGregor, Auditor General Gamini Herath and chief executive of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles (ACCS) May De Silva.

“The commission has got some powerful personalities like the Auditor General who is well equipped to deal with accountability and if there are any cases of corruption, Mrs De Silva is also well-equipped to deal with that part,” provided Justice MacGregor in an interview yesterday.

“We will need to have all of the records – documents that were used to support the court case and there were around 10 exhibits. We will invite the principal parties to put in a written submission, if they want, on what are their views and their issues. We can then question them on the points they have raised in the submissions.”

“We want all parties that are involved to come up but we will start with the two main parties followed by others,” Justice MacGregor explained.

Interested parties that could be called in include the Nouvobanq, Bank of Baroda, the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS), the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney General, the Registrar of the Supreme Court, among others.

“You never know, there might also be someone who pops up saying they are an interested party and request to have a say,” added Justice MacGregor.

Justice MacGregor stated that he would prefer to complete the inquiry in three months, before the end of this year, noting that “this case has already taken too long”.

According to Justice MacGregor, the Plantation Club matter has been brought to the courts at least 30 times in front of no less than seven judges.

“It has taken up a lot of time. We are also in a very busy period, at least for the Auditor General.”

“I am also wary of when you have too many things and you lose sight of the essential. We need to be able to sift through what is needed and what is not.”

The commission of inquiry is tasked with delivering a report to the president at the end of its mandate.

Elsie Pointe