{"id":292932,"date":"2025-02-17T14:19:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T06:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=292932"},"modified":"2025-02-17T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T06:19:42","slug":"mauritius-ex-pm-freed-on-bail-in-money-laundering-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=292932","title":{"rendered":"Mauritius ex-PM freed on bail in money-laundering probe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PORT LOUIS, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A court in Mauritius on Monday released on bail the island’s former prime minister Pravind Jugnauth in a money-laundering probe after seizing suitcases of cash in raids on his alleged accomplices’ homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police detained the 63-year-old along with his wife Kobita Jugnauth on Saturday and questioned them for several hours, police sources said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kobita Jugnauth was later released and Pravind Jugnauth was placed under formal arrest in the early hours of Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In court in the capital Port Louis, the ex-premier denied the accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge released him pending a bail payment of 1.5 million rupees ($32,000), in a written ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police and court documents detailed searches at the homes of two other suspects who run a local leisure company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said officers seized documents bearing the names of the Jugnauths, as well as luxury watches and suitcases of cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime minister from 2017 to 2024, Pravind Jugnauth is a member of one of the dynasties that have dominated the leadership of Mauritius, a stable and relatively prosperous Indian Ocean island nation, since it became independent from Britain in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He oversaw a historic deal with Britain for Mauritius to regain sovereignty over the Chagos Islands following a long-running dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his Militant Socialist Movement suffered a crushing defeat in tense elections in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He ceded office to centre-left rival Navin Ramgoolam, who became prime minister for the third time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramgoolam’s government reopened the Chagos negotiations, reportedly seeking greater financial compensation and to renegotiate the length of the proposed lease for a joint UK-US military base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Chagos deal, Britain will retain a lease for the base on the island of Diego Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Mauritius and Britain have said US President Donald Trump’s administration will have a say on the final terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The base is currently leased by Britain to the United States and has become one of its key military facilities in the Asia-Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the election campaign, both camps promised to improve the lives of ordinary Mauritians who face cost-of-living difficulties despite strong economic growth. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORT LOUIS, Feb 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A court in Mauritius on Monday released on bail the island’s former prime minister Pravind Jugnauth in a money-laundering probe after seizing suitcases of cash in raids on his alleged accomplices’ homes. Police detained the 63-year-old along with his wife Kobita Jugnauth on Saturday and questioned them for several […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":292933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,208,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292932"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=292932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":292934,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292932\/revisions\/292934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/292933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=292932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=292932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=292932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}