The leader of the opposition alleges there has been a major fraud involving over a billion rupees at the Mauritius Commercial Bank. He also says this money has been taken from the bank accounts of 16 customers and that there has been a cover-up when the fraud was uncovered, resulting in the case not being reported to the police. Ramgoolam refers to the report compiled by Nicky Tan, a Singaporean Consulting firm where mention is made of this sordid affair.

Prime minister Paul Bérenger purports to be unaware of the whole matter. He says he did not read the Nicky Tan report because the report is the property of the Bank of Mauritius and not for public consumption. He adds that he considers himself a member of the public and thus should not be expected to be up on this matter. No information is forthcoming because no statement has been given to the police. While an important issue was being debated, members of the majority thought of nothing better to say than advise Ramgoolam to ?go to the police?.

If a matter of this importance is treated with such disdain and disinterest on the part of the government, what hope is there? Chances are, some members of the majority didn?t have details about the fraud pointed out by Nicky Tan. But the impression in Parliament on Tuesday was that they were not interested to find out what it was all about. All that mattered was that it was Ramgoolam of the opposition who brought up the matter and so he must be wrong. And so the matter must be trivial.

The problem with most MPs is that they think they have been elected to defend their party and their Prime minister. Reality check: Not true. They have been elected to represent the people and to defend them against things that are not in their interests. When you are in government, you govern for the people; you do not govern for your party or for vested interests. When you let irregular matters pass, it is akin to protecting the perpetrators. And when you do this, you shouldn?t be surprised to be accused of ?cover-up?.

This time it is not the opposition that is saying a fraud took place at the MCB; it is the Nicky Tan report ordered by the BoM. And while the Prime minister thinks it convenient to hide behind the confidentiality of a report to evade questions, he needs to remember that as Prime minister, he is no ordinary member of the public. As Prime minister, he cannot pretend to be unconcerned by what is happening behind the thick walls of a bank even if the Bank of Mauritius is turning a blind eye to the report that it has paid big money for. Bérenger says he stands by the law. Good. Maybe he needs to ensure that others do so as well.

For all we know nothing happened at the MCB. I haven?t seen the report. Ramgoolam obviously has and if this is the case, it is his duty to go to the police as sarcastically advised by government. It makes us long for the times of former Prime minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth. What were those words again? ?Mo na pa pou tolere ??