Jack Bizlall who uncovered the financial scandal that toppled part of Air Mauritius and Rogers top managements in 2001, is now out for the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) president, Navin Beekharry. The whistleblower has alleged, in a letter to the commissioner of police, that the sale of a Mercedes car by ICAC?s chief commissioner is linked to money laundering. He is also accusing the latter of having obtained a rebate of Rs 63 000 on the purchase of a new car from Iframac.

?My request as a citizen is that Mr Navin Beekhary be removed from his office of ICAC president pending the outcome of an inquiry on him. In my opinion, there is no way out?, Jack Bizlall has written to the President of the Republic, the prime minister, the opposition leader and the police commissioner.

According to the whistleblower, ICAC?s president sold his three-year-old Mercedes C200 for Rs 1,6 million last September to Mrs Niladevi Vythelingum, 67 years old, and residing in Surrey. She does not hold any driving licence.

?Receipt obtained from that sale was used to offset the price of a new car, a Mercedes E 200, purchased duty free for the price of Rs 1,600, 000?, adds Jack Bizlall. According to him, the real price of a duty free Mercedes E 200 is 1,663,000. He thus concludes that Navin Beekhary has obtained a gratification of Rs 63 000. The anti-corruption law forbids public officers or ICAC commissioners to accept any gratification.

Furthermore, Jack Bizlall alleges that payment for the second-hand car was made in five instalments by Air Mauritius aircraft pilot, Poiniven Somoo, through office cheques from three different banks.

He writes in his letter to the police commissioner: ?The logical conclusion is that behind this transaction there is a case of corruption and money laundering. A first inquiry may confirm that Mr Nuvin Beekharry has not received any money from Mrs Vythelingum; that it is Mr Poiniven Soomoo who has disbursed some Rs 1,1 million to buy the car; that most payments have not been made as per normal cheque practice. The other element of the enquiry should cover, inter alia, the additional amount of Rs 500 000 paid by Mr Poiniven Soomoo??

In a statement to the press, Jack Bizlall said that Navin Beekharry is very conversant with money laundering techniques and he should thus have known that the purchaser was having recourse to this particular mode of payment in order to launder money.

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The ICAC commissioner has not made any comment on these allegations so far. Solicitor Pazhany Rangasamy, Poiniven Soomoo?s legal adviser told the press that neither his client nor the latter?s aunt, Niladevi Vythelingum, have had any dealings with Nuvin Beekharry. ?Payment of Rs 1,6 million was made directly to Iframac, which acted as agent for the sale of this second hand Mercedes?, declared Pazhany Rangasamy.

This statement is in contradiction with what an Iframac senior executive said last week. He denied that any payment was made through his company.

More light may be thrown on this case this week. Roshi Badhain, former director of the corruption and investigation division at ICAC, who was fired by Nuvin Beekhary last year, says he is coming forward with a statement to the police this week. Poiniven Somoo, who flew to Hong-Kong last week, is expected back today.