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  • How Was The Problem Identified?

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    The document summarizes the major financial scandal in Mauritius involving the siphoning of 881.5 million Mauritian rupees from the National Pensions Fund deposits at the State Bank of Mauritius in 2003. It describes how the funds were misappropriated through a scheme involving placement of money into shell companies, layering through complex financial transactions to disguise the source, and integrating the funds back into the banking system to appear legitimate. The mastermind was identified as London-based businessman Teeren Appasamy, with assistance from retired MCB chief manager Robert Lesage who split the funds between companies and individuals before the fraud was uncovered.

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    The document summarizes the major financial scandal in Mauritius involving the siphoning of 881.5 million Mauritian rupees from the National Pensions Fund deposits at the State Bank of Mauritius in 2003. It describes how the funds were misappropriated through a scheme involving placement of money into shell companies, layering through complex financial transactions to disguise the source, and integrating the funds back into the banking system to appear legitimate. The mastermind was identified as London-based businessman Teeren Appasamy, with assistance from retired MCB chief manager Robert Lesage who split the funds between companies and individuals before the fraud was uncovered.

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    12 views3 pages

    How Was The Problem Identified?

    Uploaded by

    soumedy curpen
    The document summarizes the major financial scandal in Mauritius involving the siphoning of 881.5 million Mauritian rupees from the National Pensions Fund deposits at the State Bank of Mauritius in 2003. It describes how the funds were misappropriated through a scheme involving placement of money into shell companies, layering through complex financial transactions to disguise the source, and integrating the funds back into the banking system to appear legitimate. The mastermind was identified as London-based businessman Teeren Appasamy, with assistance from retired MCB chief manager Robert Lesage who split the funds between companies and individuals before the fraud was uncovered.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    Many aspects of the siphoning of the NPF money and its disappearance still remain an issue and it is

    high time that the public should know what happened to the taxpayers’ money. It all started 6 Feb 2003,
    the biggest financial scandal, MCB announced that the NPF deposits 881.5 MUR had vanished from his
    coffers. With so many protagonists involved, independent observers wonder if anyone will ever unravel
    the plot. A few days later, namely on the 14 th February 2003, also known as the black Friday in the
    history of the financial sector of Mauritius, Amina Rajoa, the accountant responsible for the National
    Pensions Fund deposits account informed the former Prime Minister that the NPF deposits at the MCB
    could not be traced. She was subsequently accused of conspiracy with retired MCB chief manager
    Robert Lesage. In a press communique, the MCB pinpointed the latter as the mastermind. Mr. Robert
    Lesage was accused of fraudulently abstracting MCB funds and tampering with client’s account. At once
    he was involved with two top bosses and was charged for embezzlement and money laundering.

    How was the problem identified?

    The said siphoning off or fraudulently misappropriation of funds were made possible and remained a
    long time undetectable by carrying out of operations forming part of a scheme which consisted of:

    1. Placement

    As the investigation unfolded, ICAC identified the main beneficiary as London- based Mauritian
    businessman, Teeren Appasamy. Money was credited to accounts of 10 companies and five persons
    including Appasamy, the alleged master swindler. The persons implicated were Dev Manraj, Ravi
    Ramdewar, Donald Ha Yeung and his wife, Renu Manraj and Tamby Appasamy. Mr. Robert Lesage split
    up the amount and placed them in these companies, namely; Sea Rock Paradise Ltd, Angel Beach Ltd,
    Handsome Investment Ltd, Quartet Development Co Ltd, Magarian Cie Ltd, Advance Engineering Ltd,
    Mauri Beach Travel and Tours Ltd. There were also two top managers who were prosecuted in this case.
    Pierre Guy Noel, MCB general manager who failed his duty as a banker and was charged of having
    “willfully and criminally conspired with Robert Lesage and Teeren Appasamy to engage in several
    transactions involving a sum of Rs 36 million”. The other was Phillippe A. Forget, MCB’s assistant
    manager who was charged with “failing to report a suspicious transaction”. The investigation
    furthermore revealed that a third top manager Thierry Sauzier was charged of taking bribe of 2 million
    MUR.

    2. Layering

    In 1991, Mr. Robert illicitly used the funds without the knowledge of MCB started by endorsing bills and
    promissory notes which were discounted with other financial institutions. By separating the siphoned off
    and misappropriated funds from the source and creating complex layers of financial transactions,
    designed to disguise the source and audit trail of funds. From 1993, Mr. R Lesage started to make
    advances to Handsome Investment, Quartet Development and Magarian CIE Ltd amounting to
    51,000,000 MUR. Furthermore, even after his retirement Mr. Lesage continued to deal with NPF and
    NSF of transactions concerning the fixed deposits which however had already been fraudulently
    abstracted. He continued to influence NPF and NSF by granting them advantageous interest rate and
    thereby enticing them to continue to renew their fixed deposit at MCB.

    3. Integrating

    Mr. Lesage integrated the proceeds of his transactions into the bank’s systems by providing apparent
    legitimacy to the siphoned off and fraudulently misappropriated funds in such a way that they enter the
    financial systems appearing as a normal business funds rather a “clean money or white money”.

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