Chagos latest: Mauritian ex-PM banned from leaving country

The circumstances of David Lammy’s Chagos deal get murkier and murkier. This week, the incumbent Mauritian government went to the polls – and got roundly thrashed. Pravind Jugnauth’s MSM party won just two of the 62 seats in parliament, with the Labour party taking the other 60. Now, five days after losing office, the Mauritian press is reporting allegations that Jugnauth is banned from leaving the country. It is the latest extraordinary claim in an alleged wire-tapping scandal that could derail the UK-Mauritian agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands.

It follows the revelations of Sherry Singh, the former CEO of Mauritius Telecom, which highlighted Jugnauth’s alleged involvement in the acquisition and installation of illegal listening devices. During her testimony, Sherry Singh specified that the order for the listening equipment had been validated by Jugnauth when he was PM. As Zinfos974 notes ‘This case could have major repercussions on the Mauritian political class, with revelations that have apparently already had repercussions on the balance of power on the Sister Island.