SEYCHELLES REALITY

Against the backdrop of recent territorial gains, the cessation of hostilities and a peace process in Geneva that is rumbling along, President Bashar al-Assad seems more secure than ever after five years of conflict in Syria. When people ask how he managed to stay in power despite the country having its economy collapse in half, hundreds of thousands killed, one in two Syrians being forced from their homes and the conflict dragging in four of the five UN P5 members of the Security Council, you wouldn't necessarily think about the Seychelles. Yet as the Panama Papers, the biggest leak in global history, has shown, the idyllic archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa has played its part in keeping Assad in the Presidential Palace in Damascus. What this demonstrates is that what appears from a distance to be an insular, authoritarian regime far more proficient in the tools of medieval warfare than modern capitalism, has actually used the leve...

Just two weeks ago, following the terror attacks on Brussels, the Daily Observer published an editorial titled "Terrorism May Be Too Lucrative to End". In that editorial, we argued that ending terrorism was as easy as following and drying up the money; but that because there is a whole value chain involved where too many power players would have too much to lose, the political will has been missing in action. We quoted the late Harry Greaves, who in his Let's Lecture series explained that the U.S. Government is able to closely monitor the financial dealings of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and their associates. "Many officials in government are of the mistaken notion that if they steal public money and salt it away in a bank outside of the country, they are home free. Not quite...," Greaves wrote. "...if you transfer money through the international financial system, you create a paper trail. "Every US dollar transaction...

MUMBAI/CHENNAI: In a relief to Batelco Group, Bahrain based global telecoms company, the Madras High Court has directed serial investor Chinnakannan Sivasankaran, his relatives and his flagship company Siva Ltd not to sell or to create any third party rights on some of their Indian assets until February 22. The values of these movable and immovable assets are around Rs 500 crore (about $74 million). The case was filed by the BMIC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Batelco as per the ruling - decree in legal parlance - of the UK court of June 2014, which had directed Sivasankaran popularly known as Siva and his affiliates to pay up around $212 million. According to Batelco, that UK Judgment made it mandatory for Siva to payback the entire outstanding sum by 26 June 2014 but till date he has have failed to comply. "Batelco Group...has successfully obtained today Indian freezing orders from the Madras High Court against certain Indian assets of Sivasankaran and his rel...

Although everyday life in the Seychelles remains as peaceful as ever – living up to the islands’ paradisiacal tourist image – there have been tensions brewing below the surface ever since disputed elections last month. In the presidential election on 16–18 December, President James Michel was officially re-elected, beating his closest rival by a mere 193 votes – a razor sharp margin even in a country with a population of just 90,000 people. The opposition, led by Wavel Ramkalawan, immediately called for a review, intimating that there had been vote rigging and irregularities. The Supreme Court is currently scrutinising the electoral process following petitions from the opposition and will eventually decide whether the poll will be re-run later this year. In the meantime, accusations are being thrown in both directions. There are rumours, gleefully disseminated by the opposition Seychelles Weekly , that poor people were paid up to Rs5,000 ($380) to give up their iden...

Seychelles, has finally broken its silence about ditching its interest in a non-permanent member seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) during 2017-2018. The withdrawal information on Seychelles’ bid was made public on Wednesday January 13, 2016 by the country’s Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs Maurice Loustau-Lalanne. The Seychelles official confirmed to the Seychelles News Agency (SNA) , “The official announcement of Seychelles’ withdrawing in favour of Ethiopia will be done at the next African Union summit for heads of state,” which would convene at the end of this month in Addis Abeba. Seychelles’ rationale as unconvincing as it is, it states that it took this action: “For solidarity reasons we have decided to support Ethiopia.” While that has come out loud and clear, Principal Foreign Secretary Maurice Loustau-Lalanne also knows full well that his country’s withdrawal justification: “For solidarity reasons” would be hard put to convince t...

Ophir Energy has chosen to exit a farm-out agreement of a number of blocks in the Seychelles. According to Australian energy company WHL Energy, the move will see blocks 5B/1, 5B2 and 5B3 reverted back to the Seychelles Government. PetroSeychelles has formally notified PQI that the petroleum agreement which was struck in 2014 has now been terminated. WHL Energy said it is currently in discussions with the Seychelles government to continue its participation in the blocks and will update the market in due course following these discussions. https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/98678/ophir-pulls-out-of-farm-out-agreement-in-seychelles/

Those who may find comfort in knowing our presidential election process due in just a few days will include international observers should be aware that the SADC Electoral Observation Mission is the same body that has gone on record saying Robert Mugabe’s presidential mandate bestowed by voters in Zimbabwe was achieved through credible elections allowing the result to stand, no matter that fairness was observably lacking. “On the question of fairness, it’s very difficult to say everything was fair,” SADC election observer Bernard Membe said in the capital Harare as he summarised his report. SADC mission members are in Seychelles again now after observing the 2011 vote, still refusing to disclose what was found more than four years ago on the grounds that, “they do not want to affect the current election by divulging any of the findings from the previous election watch ... “, and promising to illuminate Seychellois AFTER this election concludes. It makes sense only in the context o...