Following allegations of bribery by opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam on the purchase of two gantry cranes, the cabinet has decided to set up a commission of enquiry. It has expressed its ?intense dissatisfaction? with the way the Cargo Handling Corporation (CHC) and the Mauritius Ports Authority (MPA) have handled the situation. Sir Victor Glover will chair the commission of enquiry and the hearings will be public. Its terms of reference are ?to enquire into whether bribes have been paid or taken in the process of the procurement of two ship-to-shore gantry cranes for the CHC from the International Management and Construction Corporation Abu Dhabi group.?

It was the Maritime Transport & Port Employees Union (MTPEU) that denounced the conditions of the financial lease the CHC and MPA were about to conclude. The opposition leader said that the way in which those gantry cranes were negotiated ?was a way of bypassing the Central Tender Board (CEB) so that money can be stolen. Bribes have been taken. I know.? The prime minister thanked him for his private notice question since the government was not at all aware of the way the CHC and the MPA had conducted the deal. ?For once, the opposition has done a good job.?

The CHC and the MPA took decisions unilaterally without seeking the approval of the Central Tender Board (CTB) or informing the government. The prime minister blames both for not taking legal advice and handling the dossier on their own.

They had the choice between an operational lease and a financial lease. The first is a lease contract with no intent to purchase the goods. In the second case, the goods are leased with an agreement to purchase; it is normally the CTB that deals with financial leases and projects of more than Rs 25 million. It is not the financial lease itself, which is being questioned but rather the fact that the CTB was not consulted and that the final deal could have been illegal.

The prime minister also blames the MPA for not having taken into consideration the loan offered by a well-known bank with an interest rate of 3 %. They did not inform or discuss the issue with the government. Jack Bizlall, negotiator of the MTPEU, comments: ?We have to know why the MPA did not inform the CHC and the government of the loan proposal at less than 3% interest rate.? They would have had to purchase the gantry cranes after seven years? use from the Abu Dhabi firm.

After taking legal advice, the government has asked the CHC to cancel the letter of intent sent to the Abu Dhabi company as well as the financial lease. On the other hand, the CHC will have to confirm a ?purely operative lease? if possible.

When he was informed of the way the CHC and the MPA had tackled the matter, Paul Bérenger said he was very ?angry?. However, although the government ?considered taking sanctions against these authorities at a certain point, it has finally decided not do so.? He wanted to make it clear that the government ?recognises that both authorities usually do a good job.?

Gaëtan Pillay, the CHC president, as well as Eddy Boissézon and Jean Wong Chung, chairman and general manager of the MPA, have refused to make any comments. ?A commission of enquiry has been set up. We will let it do its job. But we will give all documents to the commission in a transparent way,? Gaëtan Pillay declared.

The port is known to be working under heavy pressure as it is suffering from a lack of equipment to deal with the boom in goods transhipment. The CHC and MPA took this wrong decision because negotiations with the shipping company Maersk for the lease of two second-hand gantry cranes were not successful. So they had to find a quick solution.

The CHC asked for tenders for the lease of two gantry cranes fom seven manufacturers but only three submitted proposals: Kone Cranes from Finland for Rs 231 million, a German firm for Rs 185 million and the Abu Dhabi company for Rs 155 million. The last proposal was thus the most competitive. A delegation led by the permanent secretary of the External communications ministry, Nizam Bundhun, with Gaetan Pillay of the CHC and MPA representatives went to Abu Dhabi and India in April to assess the quality of the cranes to be supplied.

The opposition is convinced that minister Fowdar has tried to create a ?diversion and a cover-up.? Navin Ramgoolam accused the minister of avoiding his PNQ. The opposition thinks that commissions of enquiry are mere political instruments. Strangely enough, it is the opposition that has asked for this commission to be set up.

The prime minister however wants to keep the minister in his post. According to him, the government is not in the habit of interfering in every authority ?but expects these institutions to keep it informed in such cases and particularly when there is an offer of a loan at 3% interest rate.? Furthermore, the prime minister has asked the opposition leader to come and give evidence in support of what he has said to help the commission.

? The opposition thinks that commissions of enquiry are mere political instruments. Strangely enough, it is the opposition that has asked for this commission to be set up.?