It has come to light that in 2008
Marco Francis, the current Chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (SCCI), had deceitfully submitted a forged document in the form of a
degree certificate to the Seychelles Financial Authority (FSA) which was
formerly the Seychelles International Business Authority (SIBA) in an attempt
to trick the authority. The suspicious degree certificate from Durham
University was investigated at that time by Dr Steve Fanny himself as the Managing
director of SIBA, with the findings from the University confirming the forged
document. The fake degree certificate was presumably a required document in
setting up an offshore company for the SCCI chairman. Dr Fanny, now the Principal
Secretary for Economic Policy, Trade and Investment, for reasons only known to
him decided to hide and suppress the findings by taking no appropriate action at
this attempt to defraud and deceive the authority he was entrusted as Managing
Director.
On 16th October 2008
Dr Fanny wrote a letter to Mr Paul Brierley, the Examinations and Assessment
Manager at Durham University at that time, to verify the authenticity of the
submitted degree certificate. In the
letter he specifically queries the spelling error with “Honours” spelt
“Houours”; a clear giveaway.
In the response of Mr Brierley he
confirmed that it was indeed not an authentic Durham University certificate,
citing numerous reasons including the fact that the signatures of the Vice
Chancellor and Registrar are not correct. He further indicated that they had no
record of any student named Marco Lorenzo Francis having attended Durham
University. The primary objective of the SCCI is to promote and protect all
types of business and investment in Seychelles and this will come as a most
staggering embarrassment for the association. And it will also be an
embarrassment for President James Michel, as the SCCI chairman is part of the
14 distinguished member of the National Forum. Marco Francis is now all but
distinguished; a distinguished fraudster and deceiver perhaps.
Upon investigating the matter at
hand, Durham University was contacted to confirm the enquiry by Dr Fanny. In an
email received from the Student Registry, Durham University confirmed that “this letter is authentic, all of the information given in the
letter is correct, and it was sent from Durham University by Mr Paul Brierley.”
With the confirmation of the
forgery and in the capacity to discharge his functions as Managing Director, Dr
Fanny should have used his best endeavour to ensure that the Authority operates
in accordance with the principles of good governance and to fulfil its
statutory obligations and properly discharges its functions. No action whatsoever was taken; a gross and
shameful neglect of Dr Fanny’s duties. How many other cases has Dr Fanny swept under
the carpet, was there collusion between the two parties in the form of bribery ,
what else as a Principal Secretary in the Finance Ministry could Dr Fanny be
hiding and now questions have to be
raised regarding the recent fire at the FSA.
The Penal code states that
forgery is the making of a false document with intent to defraud or to deceive
and “who makes a document purporting to be what in fact it is not”. Furthermore
“any person who forges any judicial or official document is liable to
imprisonment for ten years”. Recently it was brought to the attention that a
criminal investigation by the police on this matter has been ongoing for the
past three months. The police have all the necessary documents but have been
painfully slow in acting; they seem petrified to investigate the case.
The case of Marco Francis is
clear cut; a felony was committed. It was investigated by the Managing director
of SIBA and no action was taken as required by law and the truth kept away from
the public; a clear violation of ethics and the duties of Dr Fanny. They can
never be trusted again. The people of Seychelles deserve better and because of
this most shameful and deceitful law breaking act, both Marco Francis and Steve
Fanny must resign immediately to restore any confidence left in the SCCI and
Ministry of Finance.
By A.Pierre
