Ministry requests publication of letter of redress
The Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Finance, Colin Jean-Louis, has requested publication of a letter in Regar as ‘redress’ over our article of last week entitled ‘Faure Yields to Corruption’ on the waiver of penalties for price control violations levied on a Praslin businessman.
In view of the call for a more open press, we have no objection to publishing the letter. It is still our view that the Minister was wrong to grant such a waiver to a person who had become a prominent supporter of the SPPF.
The letter compares the Minister’s action to a waiver of social security surcharge for individuals connected to the SNP in the Equator Hotel case and to the reduction of import duty on vehicles for members of the National Assembly. It is our view that neither of these cases are comparable to the one in question. The letter has been sent to and published by other newspapers, which shows that the Ministry’s intention may not be to obtain redress from Regar, but get maximum publicity from the statements.
The issue of the waiver of penalties or granting of special privileges for political supporters is one that has always been of concern to us and that we will continue to pursue.
Source: Regar 2-5-10