Mauritius holds ex-PM for two days over Rawat deal

What you need to know:

Former Mauritius PM Navin Ramgoolam set free on bail after spending two nights in a police cell.
Search of former PM’s house reveals over $6.6 million (Sh633 million) in cash.
Ramgoolam was so close to ex-Britam director Dawood Rawat, the relationship has been described as “toxic”.

Former Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam was on Sunday set free on bail after spending two nights in a police cell.

Ramgoolam, 67, was arrested on Friday night on three charges of lying, money laundering and conspiracy.

He was arrested in relation to the big financial scandal touching on the British American Investment group (BAI) where over $715 million (now about Sh65 billion) was allegedly embezzled from clients’ accounts.

The former prime minister is accused of having signed documents authorising the sale of a building owned by Bramer Property Fund, a subsidiary of BAI.

Police suspect that Ramgoolam conspired with BAI group owner Dawood Rawat, 71, who has since fled to Europe, in the operation to defraud Bramer Property Fund shareholders.

Also arrested last week, was Rawat’s son-in-law Claudio Feistritzer, who headed the BAI group’s trade and commerce arm Bramcom Holdings.

A search carried out at Ramgoolam’s home led to a discovery of two bags, with one containing over $600,000 (Sh57.6 million) and another containing the equivalent of over $6 million dollars (Sh576 million) in Mauritian rupees and other foreign currencies. The source of the money has not yet been explained.