Day: May 8, 2023

The main legal counsel on the Valabhji case, Samantha Aglae, alerted Seychelles’ media on Sunday evening of a breach in her constitutional rights to privacy as a result of taking on an infamous case, where businessman Mukesh Valabjhi is facing charges of alleged theft, official corruption and money laundering amounting to approximately $100 million between 1993 and 2012. He and his wife, Laura, also face a second case of illegal possession of firearms.

In an email addressed to all local media houses, Aglae claims that she has been placed on a “target list” as soon as she had officially taken on the couple’s case in June 2022.

“I was alerted that I was on the target list and even warned not to return to Seychelles as I was on the radar of the group of informal “private eye”,” – a group of individuals she has nicknamed ‘Kapon’ or cowards in Creole, she elaborated in the email.

According to her recollections, someone informed her that she was being watched and soon after “I started to receive notifications of unusual signing into my email account and I knew that Kapon was already on my tail and hard at work to infiltrate my communications,” she said.

Aglae also said that she “started noticing out of place vehicles parked across from my home with its occupants just sitting there for hours on end and then new faces started to show up from across the road, just staring and watching my home”.

She went on to add that as time passed “they became bolder and started coming into the compound to search the rubbish bin each time using different ways to access it”.

“I am bringing this matter to the forefront as such activities not only tarnishes the image of Seychelles and waste public funds but it violates the rights of the Valabhjis, my rights, those of my family and puts our lives at risk.”

According to the account she has given the press, it has even gone as far as the individuals following her to Seychelles on flights and also watching her home on the island in the western Indian ocean.

“What I cannot get used to is how much it’s costing taxpayers to have the Valabhjis’ defence team under surveillance in and outside of Seychelles as some of them travel in business class, when the average Seychellois are struggling to make ends meet. Many more can be said, but my recorded statements, photos and videos I have of my escorts are with my lawyer.”

Aglae concluded by saying that despite the breach to her rights, she will “continue to represent the Valabhjis because I cannot just stand by and allow injustice such as what is happening to my clients to happen because it could happen to anyone of us who makes it to the target list.”

Aglae is the third lawyer to join the Valabhjis legal case since it began 15 months ago.

Frank Elizabeth was the first to recuse himself although he was initially to register the Kobre & Kim lawyers from a law firm based in the UK, under his cabinet. Basil Hoareau, another local attorney, has done a short stint on the couple’s legal team.

“Their first lawyer withdrew from their case within days and their second lawyer withdrew a couple of months later after British investigator, Patrick Humphreys, working for ACCS made certain allegations against him and on that same date,” claims Aglae.

ACCS refutes allegations

Meanwhile, the SNA contacted the Anti-Corruption Commission of Seychelles (ACCS), which has been accused of being behind the illegal searches and surveillance.

ACCS chief executive May de Silva told SNA that the organisation refutes all the allegations Aglae has made in her statement, adding “that since these allegations are serious, Aglae should contact the police”.

Rights to privacy

The Constitution of Seychelles provides a very broad definition to the right to privacy. The right to privacy provides that “every person” which includes a lawyer representing clients, “has the “right” not to be searched or (have) his or her property searched without the consent of that person, nor to enter on the premises of that person without consent – unless there is a warrant issued by the court”.

The constitution also stipulates that a search cannot be carried out “without a court order to have his or her correspondence or other means of communication intercepted”.

The constitution – which is also the supreme law of the land – allows that “should a search or correspondence/ communication be intercepted upon a court order or warrant, this should be under the exceptions of the right to privacy, and necessary in a democratic society”.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The United Democratic Patriots Party (PPDU) is far from being a party shaken by dissensions and divisions, said newly elected Secretary General Mongi Rahoui.

He was speaking at a press conference in Tunis on Monday, on the outputs of the party’s second congress.

The party has recovered most of its militants; all 23 members of the PPDU political bureau are among the founders and former members of the party, he said.

Speaking about the July 25 process, Mongi Rahoui said the process «was the logical corollary of a popular revolt, the rise of social protest, the failure of successive policies and the constant calls for disbanding the Parliament and the government.»

The July 25 process is not only a political process but also a “social revolution” that aspires to wipe out the oppressive economic system.

The PPDU’s adherence to this process in no way means giving it a carte blanche, Rahoui assured, reaffirming his party’s readiness to continue the struggle in order to achieve the people’s legitimate demands.

Regarding the dialogue with President Kais Saied as head of the executive and initiator of the July 25 process, Rahoui said dialogue remains «a civil and political mechanism” to deal with the components of the political landscape.

Nevertheless, it could become a senseless dialogue if it does not meet its objective and subjective prerequisites.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

President of the Republic Kais Saied called on Justice Minister Leila Jafal during a meeting at the Carthage Palace on Monday to “protect whistleblowers if they are right”.

Saied explained, according to a video posted by the Presidency of the Republic on its page on social media, that ” this is not about closing down accounts inside the country”, pointing out that “there is a lot of evidence to suggest that whistleblowers pay a high price, due to the exposure of the practices of a number of people who believe they are above the law”.

He also called for ” equity for all, based on the law, so that everyone with a claim takes his right “, believing that ” the state can only be redressed by putting an end to the networks that operate within state bodies in many sectors “.

After stressing the role of the judiciary in the fight against corruption networks that “are still trying to sabotage the country and society”, the Head of State called on those he described as “honest judges” to assume their responsibilities in order to put an end to the corrupt.

He said that “the treason of some and their membership in the arms of foreigners cannot intercede for them nor allow them immunity”, stressing that the Tunisian state is based on law and that “it seeks to establish a society of law, in which the citizen feels at the origin of the legal basis set by the legislator”.

Regarding checks and balances, the President of the Republic stressed the need to “reach a fair legal solution that allows those concerned to benefit, instead of the current legal situations that do not do justice to the creditor and keep the debtor in prison for decades”, recalling that he called for the preparation of a draft law that puts an end to such situations.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Individuals, including foreigners and Tunisians, involved in human smuggling networks via the country’s western border (with Algeria) have been arrested by national guard units on Monday.

The investigation unit of the National Guard of Thala, Kasserine, arrested a foreigner and dismantled a «human trafficking cartel,» said the Spokesperson of the national guard.

Intel was received on suspicious activities of this cartel in trafficking of sub-Saharan nationals to Tunisia via the western land borders of Tunisia in the direction of Thala and their displacement to the city of Hammamet of Nabeul governorate, before transferring them to Sfax.

An ambush was set up to unmask the head of this network, who is “a national of a sub-Saharan country,” the spokesperson told reporters.

The person in question is coordinating with other individuals from neighbouring countries with the aim of welcoming sub-Saharan nationals and thus facilitating their crossing of the Tunisian-Algerian border.

Two other people were placed in custody, the same source added, noting they were a Tunisian and a national of a sub-Saharan country.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse