Is this agreement yet another example of an economic crime
against the people of Seychelles?
On the 20th of December 1994 The Government of Seychelles
leased 11 islands to a private company, Island Development Company Limited
(IDC) for 99 years for the yearly rent of SR1. Sometime later Astove,
Assumption and St Pierre were added to the original agreement making a total of
14 islands in all. IDC was supposed to develop the islands. The kind of
development was never clear and ordinary Seychellois was always in the dark.
Because the ordinary Seychellois were in the dark to this day, I guess they
were happy enough that once a year they got birds eggs from those islands,
until about two or three years ago when we were told that helicopters were
needed to transport the eggs and that was why none was available. Nevertheless,
there was a plan why the 14 islands were leased to IDC. The plan was to
transfer the assets of IDC to another Limited company in the British Virgin
Islands at a later date but fortunately the plan failed. This never made any
sense to anyone until one understands that this was “attempted theft”.
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| The original 1994 lease agreement |
Seychellois lost the benefit of his 14 islands to some dollar millionaires. We are not even allowed to set foot there. Many fishermen have complained about being denied a place to “maske” during rough weather conditions because they are chased off by armed guards.
Despite the ordinary Seychellois not benefitting in any way
whatsoever from the “development” taking place on these 14 islands, up until
recently millions of rupees of our tax money was poured into IDC every year. Is
this not an economic crime perpetrated against the people of Seychelles?
For the last 40 years the SPUP/SPPF/Parti Lepep regime has
been committing crimes against its citizens, however this one cannot be
forgiven by the people. So what is the crime this time? Is it one of committing
fraud on an international level? The signed renegotiated agreement between the
Seychelles Government and the Indian Government for a military base on
Assumption has yet to reach the National Assembly for ratification; the
military base is now disguised as a joint venture. Where was India when our EEZ
was infested with pirates? The UNODC and EU came to our rescue. For any
agreement to have legal validity, it needs valuable consideration. What is the
consideration for this Agreement? India gets its military base on Seychelles
soil to counteract China’s military base in Djibouti and Seychelles gets WHAT?
The use of a military base to wage war against the tuna, turtles and dolphins
in our waters when we are attacked by them?
The Leader of the opposition may have used a couple of loose
words on a recent trip to India but LDS is a movement grander than any one
person. LDS is not like Parti Lepep and they are not rigid and deaf on the
People of Seychelles. In principle, LDS is against any foreign military base in
Seychelles and like the campaign song, it is clear the deal upon reaching the
assembly should be “Zet Anba”. Danny Faure, the Unelected President of
Seychelles, stated his belief in transparency, but now his Administration is
being exposed as a perpetrator of yet another economic crime against the
citizens, because we do not see the benefit for the ordinary Seychellois. They
keep losing out. The revised agreement
has never been made public and this lack of transparency has caused massive
confusion in the population. Furthermore, LDS must also ensure that the
original agreement by the Michel administration is made public.
The benefit to Seychelles of having a military base on its
soil does not make any sense except of course to those who might have
benefitted in some way or another from it. Just out of curiosity who drafted
the Agreement?
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| IDC website |
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| CEO of IDC confirms ownership in interview with Today in Seychelles |
The people must insist on the immediate removal of the Danny Faure Administration as this could be the biggest embarrassment internationally for Seychelles of all time. Lastly, is IDC Ltd wholly owned by the Government of Seychelles? If it is, why was IDC incorporated in the first place? However, be that as it may technically and legally any agreement regarding Assumption must be signed by the CEO of that limited company, the Lessee. The CEO was nowhere to be seen. End of Story!
