HERMITTE TELLS IT ALL

The former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Godfra Hermitte resigned from his post on 21 March. He said then that he had been forced to do it and that he would give an explanation at a later date. This week, Mr Hermitte sat down with journalists to give an account of events that led to his resignation.

Things began to unravel for former Assistant Commissioner of Police, Godfra Hermitte some nine months ago, according to his accounts of the events that led him to submit his resignation earlier this year.

"I could not condone unethical practices and they didn't like it", Godfra Hermitte said.

Mr Hermitte told TODAY he was given a directive by the Minister for Home Affairs, Charles Bastienne to sack someone from the police force. He said the reason given was that the person “wasn’t one of us.” The implication was that the person, who worked at the Anse Boileau police station, was not a supporter of the ruling party. Mr Hermitte said he was extremely uncomfortable with the decision and made it known to anyone who would listen to him. “I was a professional and as such, I believe that wasn’t a valid reason to sack someone from the force. I believe that competence, honesty and loyalty to the organisation are the necessary requirements – certainly not a person’s political beliefs,” he said.

However, Mr Hermitte said he felt he was being tested and from then on things went from bad to worse.

Another test came before last December’s Presidential elections during the recruitment of new trainee police officers. Since he was the Assistant Commissioner responsible for support services, which also involved human resources, he expressed doubts on the recruitment process. “There were people who sat for the exams and failed, but were recruited. Some others simply failed to sit for the exam and they were selected,” he said, adding that “one got the impression that the Minister’s office was like a recruitment centre.” He said those youths had to be recruited no matter what as their votes and their families’ votes were crucial. “It was unprofessional and I again expressed my displeasure which must have certainly reached the ears of the Minister.”

 Mr Hermitte said that from then on, he felt he was sidelined from decision making. “Meetings were held and I was kept out of them. They just couldn’t understand my stance against politics in the civil service. Therefore they went out of their way to frustrate me,” he said.

According to Mr Hermitte’s account, things came to a head when he was summoned to the Minister’s office together with the Commissioner of Police to be told that he was being transferred to the office of the Minister as an advisor.

“I told the Minister that I needed time to think about the proposal. I spent a weekend agonising over it and I informed the Minister the following week that I would not mind being his advisor as long as I remained in the police force and based at the central police station.”

Mr Hermitte said that after ten days with no reply, he asked the ministry to propose a package, to which the Minister replied that he would refer the matter to the Commissioner of Police. However, he was in for a surprise as on 19 February, the Commissioner gave him a letter informing him that he was being transferred to the Minister’s office. “That was illegal. The Commissioner had absolutely no power to transfer me anywhere except within the force,’ he said.

Mr Hermitte added that he subsequently wrote to the Commissioner with queries regarding the issue. He said he never got an answer and his conclusion is that whatever happened to him was nothing but a political vendetta.

Source: Today in Seychelles

VICTIMISED AGAIN!

Boulle a victim of secret information;  Intershore Banking Corporation’s affair takes a new twist.

The Supreme Court, in a judgment delivered on 17 May, refused to divulge the secret information provided by a foreigner of the Financial Investigative Unit (FIU) to the Central Bank which was used to refuse the grant of a bank licence to the Seychellois company Intershore Banking Corporation whose owner is the lawyer Philippe Boullé, who is also a former chairman of Barclays Bank.

The Judgment was delivered in the course of an appeal by Intershore Banking Corporation against the decision by the Central Bank, wherein Intershore Banking Corporation had requested the Supreme Court to compel the Central Bank to produce the secret information to discredit Intershore Banking Corporation and its owner. Intershore relied on an article of the Constitution which provides for “a right of access of every person to information relating to that person and held by a public authority which is performing a governmental function and the right to have the information rectified or otherwise amended, if inaccurate.”

Philippe Boulle says he takes it as a situation of déja vu as it all reminds him of times gone by “when, under the one party system, the state used the dirty tactics of secret information to try and destroy me.”

He cited the incidents when he was imprisoned three times by presidential decree based on “secret information” provided by security forces which he said was “nothing but lies and rubbish while criminals and murderers were walking free on the streets with the security forces.”

He added that after he was imprisoned, he was refused a passport based on “secret information” supplied to the immigration officers “which again was nothing but lies, while passports were freely given to foreigners who were known rogues and criminals.”

Mr Boulle added that following the refusal of a passport he was refused a licence to practice his profession once more based on “secret information” supplied to the licensing authority. “With hindsight I see those incidents as childish manoeuvres by people drunk with power seized by force,” the lawyer said.

“Now years later, from childish behaviour to the ridiculous, my company, Instershore Banking Corp is refused a banking licence based again on “secret information” by a foreigner in the FIU.”

Philippe Boullé concludes that it is obvious that citizens are still shackled by malicious tactics and that “it is evident that the only way to liberate all Seychellois so that they can feely engage in the business of their choice without facing the nonsensical Gestapo style hurdles, is to have a change in the political landscape.”

Intershore Banking Corporation will appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO TERRY JULES?

This week marked the 3 year anniversary of the disappearance of a man from Anse La Mouche. His blue Terios Jeep the 34-year-old was driving was found parked by the roadside near Reef Holiday apartments at around 8pm on Sunday 19^th of May 2013.

“The parked jeep caught the attention of a police officer who noticed it was unattended and had some personal belongings in it like a laptop and some clothes, and on the road near the jeep was a mobile phone, all later identified as Jules”

Since the initial investigation everything has gone quiet; no further information has been produced as to his whereabouts or what really happened to him.

By A.Pierre