Mauritius police issue arrest order for former central bank governor

Port Louis: Police in Mauritius have issued an order for the arrest of the Indian Ocean islands' former central bank governor, in connection to an inquiry into a conspiracy to defraud case.

The action, by the police anti-money laundering unit, is the first significant one from the government of Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who said last week the outgoing government had falsified the country's gross domestic product (GDP), budget deficit and public debt figures for years.

The former central bank governor, Harvesh Kumar Seegolam, was out of the country and would be arrested as soon as he returned, police said in a notice in Mauritius newspapers on Sunday.

They provided no more details on the nature of the case.

Seegolam did not respond to a request for comment.

In a report issued to parliament, Ramgoolam also accused the central bank of printing money to fund the government's Mauritius Investment Corporation, set up in 2020 to help companies deal with effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was meant to have been funded using the bank's official foreign exchange reserves, Ramgoolam's report said.

"The printing of money by the Bank of Mauritius to fund the MIC was an irresponsible act which has had deleterious effects on the monetary system, the more so that the banking system was already flush with excess liquidity," the report said.