Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission – Hearing Number 139 Land acquisition and imposed excess duties highlight hearing 139 |15 April 2021

Mr D’Offay (Photo source: SBC)

The Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission (TRNUC) yesterday heard evidence from three witnesses in cases of land acquisition, imposed excess duty, as well as disappearance.

It was the commission’s third sitting since resuming public hearing sessions on Monday.

Ex-chief customs officer Jean-Claude D’Offay, ex-principal secretary for Land Planning and Management in the Ministry of National Development, between 1986 and 1989, Patrick Lablache and Gilbert Mondon (closed session) were all quizzed by the TRNUC regarding the above-mentioned cases.

Case 0411 – Meghjee family

The first witness to be questioned in open session by the commission yesterday was Jean-Claude D’Offay in his capacity as the ex-chief customs officer in case 0411 filed by the Meghjee family in regards to excess duties imposed on their imported vehicles.

They claimed that the ex-chief customs officer rejected invoices that the family provided to prove the price of vehicles they purchased and told them that the position enabled him to re-value the vehicles.

This, they said, was done to make them pay extra duties on the vehicles imported, something they believed was done under the direction of State House as ex-President Albert Rene was dissatisfied with the price they had provided to Philip D’Offay, with respect to a lorry that the former was purchasing for the latter as compensation for his participation in the 1977 Coup.

Mr D’Offay claimed that on one of his daily rounds in the compound before entering his office, he noticed several second-hand vehicles after enquiring with his officers; he learned that they belonged to the Meghjee family and asked to see the invoices.

He explained that he instantly noticed from the invoices that the vehicles were under-valued.

Having the power to value the vehicles, Mr D’Offay said he re-valued them and after not being satisfied with his own valuation exercise, he called a certain Mr Monchouguy who worked at the Public Works Division (PWD) at that time.

He noted that at that time, the PWD used to do valuation work, including vehicles.

He said Mr Monchouguy was satisfied with his valuation, even if he told him that in his place, he would have set it a little higher.

Mr D’Offay said he gave the Meghjee family the options of finding a private person to do the valuation, or to take the matter to court, if they thought his figures were wrong.

After arguing, the Meghjee family decided to pay the calculated duty on the vehicles.

He explained he is certain that the Meghjee family did not lose anything based on the valuation since they sure passed on the charge to their customers.

Based on further claims by the family, stating that price control on vehicles were brought in after they refused to give a good price to Mr Rene, Mr D’Offay explained that there were no price control whatsoever on vehicles at that time.

Mr D’Offay further explained that based on the law, even if someone bought a vehicle at bargain price, the product will have to be re-evaluated once in the country for tax purposes.

When asked if ex-President Rene called him, asking for any favour whatsoever regarding the vehicle in question, Mr D’Offay clearly stated that firstly, he and the ex-president did not see things eye-to-eye, and secondly, Mr Rene never interfered in his work.

He even made mention of an incident where Mr Rene gave one of his close friends a telling off for badmouthing and accusing him of being a thief.

Mr D’Offay also noted that he carried out his work with honesty and was well disciplined, otherwise he could have been a millionaire just through bribe offers that he turned down during his career.

Not related to the case, he also gave a brief account of the fraudulent transactions carried out by the ex-Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) which almost lost him his job after reporting it to ex-president Rene.

He explained that SMB was using middlemen to inflate the prices of the imported basic commodities.

Case 021 – Benjamin Pierre-Louis

The second person in the TRNUC’s hot seat yesterday was Patrick Lablache who was a witness in case 021 filed by Benjamin Pierre-Louis.

In his complaint, Mr Pierre-Louis claimed that when the Seychelles government acquired all of the Shell companies, his business and petrol station was also acquired.

He claimed that three years after the acquisition, the government contacted him and advised him that he was entitled to make a claim for compensation and he and his business partner had originally paid R235,000 for land parcel 67 number 255 and the land was registered under his name and that of Robert Andre, his business partner.

Mr Pierre-Louis said he made an official request for R707,600 which was refused, and was offered R240,000 instead, a sum which they declined.

He said the offer was made without any survey, without taking into account all the work they had done, including spending R220,000 to build a mechanic garage and R60,000 to renovate a store, turning it into a supermarket.

Mr Pierre-Louis claimed that the negotiations took place before he was brutally tortured in October 1986, after which he left the country and claimed refugee status in Canada.

In his absence, he and his business partner appointed the late Hansley Lesperance as their proxy.

Mr Pierre-Louis further claimed that, given his exiled status, he was unable to make a claim to the property during 1987 to 2000.

In 2000 he came to Seychelles and tried to see the President, but was not granted an appointment.

He came again in 2001 where he did see the President and told him about it, but later received a letter saying that he was out of time to claim compensation, because under the provisions of the Constitution, he only had one year in which to make a claim.

Taking the chair, Mr Lablache said the government made the acquisition in text of nationalising Shell Company of the islands.

He said the government took the assets of the company, as well as properties of other private owners to create the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec).

He explained that there was a mortgage of R250,000 on the property in the favour of the Banque Française Commerciale Océan Indien and that when the government made the acquisition there was outstanding debt of R405,014 on the mortgage.

He noted that both Mr Pierre-Louis and his partner, along with the bank, submitted a claim for compensation.

Both claims were accepted to be determined under the law (Lands Acquisition Act).

According to Mr Lablache, since there was a mortgage on the property, the government assessed the claim and offered a compensation of R240,000, to which both parties – ex-owners and the bank – accepted.

As conclusion he said Mr Pierre-Louis failed to submit his claim within the time frame provided by the law, therefore his claim was not valid.

Mr Lablache remained in the seat, but in closed sessions, to give evidence in three other cases, namely case 0411 filed by the Meghjee family, case 0262 filed by Albert Jean-Louis and case 0283 filed by Josianne Benoit.

The commission also listened to evidence from Gilbert Mondon in case 022 of Olivia Vincent regarding the disappearance of Gilbert Morgan.

Roland Duval