31 YEARS LATER - GERARD’S MURDER IS STILL AN “OPEN CASE”

31 years have passed since the young, popular exiled resistance Seychellois leader, Gerard Hoarau, was shot dead outside his home in London. 31 years and yet still no answers with regards as to who ordered and carried out this odious crime.

Gerard was not the only victim of politically motivated murders in Seychelles. The list is long and all the murders with the exception of Gerard’s were carried out on Seychellois soil and yet again we still have no answers as to who carried out those crimes. While South Africans have exorcised their demons through a public process of national reconciliation inspired by Bishop Desmond Tutu’s “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”, the regime in Seychelles has never bothered to initiate any public inquiries into any of the murders and disappearances of its political critics that occurred under their watch and in their own jurisdiction. Until they do so intelligent people can only assume one thing – they sanctioned those crimes and they are responsible for them.

Here we present you with some facts and ask some questions on Gerard’s case. Draw your own conclusions.

Fact: On 29th November 1985 Gerard Hoarau, President of the SNM and Head of the MPR was shot dead outside his home in London. The perpetrators of this heinous crime have still not been identified or apprehended:

Who ultimately ordered the assassination of Gerard Hoarau?

Who pulled the trigger of that Sterling sub-machine gun that emptied 33 bullets into Gerard’s body?

Fact: The British Police found out that Gerard’s movement were being monitored by sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment placed in a house next door to Gerard’s London home. That house was purchased by a company belonging to Mario Ricci who was acting as an agent of the Seychelles Government at the time.

Under whose direct instructions was Ricci acting upon?

Who hired Ian Withers and the three men who monitored Gerard’s movement on a 24 hour basis for months and eventually leading to his assassination?

Fact: Gerard was killed with a British made Sterling sub-machine gun. Those guns were standard issue to the riot control PMU squad of Seychelles Police prior to the illegal coup of 5th June 1977. These weapons were captured by the SPUP terrorists when they usurped power in the coup.

Who issued that weapon to the assassin and who used it to murder Gerard?

How was that weapon smuggled into Britain and how was it disposed of after it was used to carry out that dastardly act?

Fact: Three men were arrested by the British Police for carrying out an illegal electronic surveillance of Gerard’s activities. They were consequently prosecuted and convicted of perverting the course of public justice at the Old Bailey in London. Some interesting facts emerged from this case.

Scotland Yard Anti Terrorist Squad wanted to pursue leads that led to Seychelles. Their requests to follow those leads to collect evidence were refused by the illegal regime in Seychelles.

Why was Scotland Yard refused access to Seychelles?

Those three men reported directly to a notorious spy by the name of Ian Withers.

Who hired Ian Withers who was based and owned businesses in the Seychelles at the time?

One of the prosecuted men (a BT engineer by the name of Richards) revealed in evidence in court that the night before Gerard’s assassination, he turned up at the house to check on the equipment. When he tried to open the door, the other man Underwood who was in charge of the surveillance team, opened the door from the inside and told Richards that he could not enter because “one of their guys was inside the house” and he did not want Richards to see the person inside. Richards left without seeing who was inside. The next day Gerard was killed.

His current LinkedIn profile; British spy and MI5 agent?

Who was the mystery person that Underwood called “one of their guys”?

Why did Underwood not want Richards to see that person?

Was that person the one who ultimately shot and killed Gerard the next day?

Why did the prosecutor not ask Underwood to reveal in court, who was that person?

Did Scotland Yard officers investigating that crime, interrogate Underwood as to the description of that person?

If so does Scotland Yard know and hold a record of the description of that person and is that the reason that they wanted to follow their investigations in Seychelles?

When sentencing the three men, the British Judge Justice Potts at the Old Bailey, described their crime as vile and despicable and said that he believed that their actions had directly led to the death of an innocent man. He said that he wished that he could have given them a much more severe custodial sentence, but that regrettably he was constrained by the punishment stipulated the law relating to the specific charges against them. From the Honourable Judge’s comments it is clear that he saw a clear link between the surveillance activities and Gerard’s assassination. Therefore, the miscreants that authorised and financed that illegal surveillance activity of Gerard’s movements, were also those responsible for his murder.

Who were all the people behind that operation and who gave the ultimate order to open fire and kill Gerard Hoarau?

Margaret Thatcher meets Albert Rene at Downing Street in April 1985; a few months before Gerard is assassinated.

On the 5^th of June 1977, Seychelles was taken by force by 33 men which included Chief Architect Albert Rene as referenced by Kevin Shillington’s official biography of the dictator. The biography states that Rene had begun planning for the coup immediately after the lost of the 1974 General Elections. The bloody coup was not an uprising or a revolution; they attempted an Orwellian twist of the truth to justify this act of terrorism.  A revolution is when the population rises up in revolt against the current authorities; not 33 opportunists! Shortly after this act of terror in 1977 and referenced on page 214 of the same biography it reads “evidenced by MI5 allocating one of their agents to keep constant watch on Rene`s daughter Pandora, who was studying for a degree in environmental science at Leicester Technical College. They feared her security might be threatened as a way of getting at her father”. Was this unnamed MI5 agent at that time a Mr Ian D. Withers? It is odd that British Government offered protection to a dictators daughter shortly after the coup!

Gérard Hoarau’s murder remains an open case file, according to the British police, but in Seychelles, his death is an open wound that can never heal until the truth is told.

THE D`ARROS ISLAND SPECIAL RESERVE SCAM

The public`s call to be heard on the decision to turn D`Arros Island and Saint Joseph atoll into a “special reserve” has fallen on deaf ears. The Parti Lepep government will now allow the scam to go ahead.

It is common knowledge that Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik Al-Sheikh, the Saudi national involved in the Plantation Club takeover scandal, is the person who presently has control over D'Arros Island, and is also the founder of Save Our Seas foundation. We know the special reserve is not being created because he is interested in conservation, but merely a smoke screen to extend his control over St. Joseph atoll for his own exclusive pleasure.

 Now he wants us Seychellois and our visitors to be further deprived of our patrimony, what bloody cheek! This is the same man who has blocked access to Val Mer beach in Baie Lazare, and has caused serious environmental damage in the reefs of D'Arros.

 
  He is a shark freak, alledgedly involved in chumming activities around our islands. A couple years back, two of his staff were devoured by shaks while chumming for their boss in the Grand Police bay area. A similar incident was repeated at D'Arros more recently, but the person involved survived his injuries this time. He obviously gets away with a lot of mischief with impunity because high government officials are well entertained at his luxury villas in Val Mer. Even his private jets have even been used by high government officials on their private overseas travels in the past. It all stinks of CORRUPTION at the highest level! It is high time that the message is passed to this Arab that SEYCHELLES IS FOR SEYCHELLOIS, NOT ARABS, and the time of his flouting our laws is OVER!

By Jacques Pool

DANNY FAURE BETRAYS OUR PUBLIC SERVICE

In his first actions as President, Danny Faure has betrayed the people who work in our public service and parastatal companies. With the appointments of political activists to senior leadership positions in these organizations, he has shown that the competence and commitment of professionals mean nothing. When it comes to promotion, it is those who have earned political favours who get the top jobs.

The appointments have put a whole crew of former Parti Lepep MNAs and failed National Assembly candidates in top positions of Principal Secretary or Director-General in the public service and as Chief Executives in state-owned companies.

The people who staff these organisations have made them their careers. The organizational charts of the organizations should show a clear career path to the top jobs so that people can see their way up the ladder. Promotion must be on merit.

The only acceptable way for appointment to the top jobs is through promotion within the ranks, or when vacancies occur that cannot be filled internally, through open recruitment. The vacancies should have been advertised for anyone to apply. Political cronyism is the wrong path to leadership.

In these actions, Mr. Faure has broken the principles to which he has just given his commitment. One of them is the separation of party and state interests. With the appointments, these organizations have been stuffed with political activists who will make them even more political. The objective of de-politicising the Public Service is out the window.

Even the appointments of three former ministerial candidates to the position of Secretary of State is wrong because that position has up to now been filled from public service ranks. They have come to be seen as administrative and not political positions.

One of the commitments which Mr. Faure has expressed is for the creation of a Public Service Commission which would regulate such matters as promotion. This has been endorsed precisely to make the point that appointments and promotions cannot be at the President’s pleasure. What is now the point?

Also damaged is the objective of national unity. It is clear we cannot build unity on political partisanship. After expressing the wish for national unity, Mr. Faure has turned the other way. 

For LDS, Mr. Faure has also broken the spirit of dialogue which he said he wanted to promote. Of particular significance are the appointments in state-owned organizations because such appointments were raised in the first meeting to promote dialogue. The state-owned organizations are meant to have their own Boards, which should be composed of members who can be independent. It is these Boards who should determine the appointment of Executive Officers.

The decisions on these appointments are enough to cast doubt on the sincerity of the declarations that Mr. Faure has made as President. As we have come to appreciate time and again, actions speak louder than words.

Roger Mancienne