In an exclusive interview, the former head of the now defunct BAI Group, Dawood Rawat, talks to Weekly. Rawat breaks his silence to tell us why his testimony at the Britam commission was cancelled at the last minute and who is afraid of what he has to say. The former chairman of the BAI also reveals his side of the story: how the government looked to break him. 

The Commission of Inquiry on Britam decided last week not to allow you to depone after all. How do you react to that decision?
This is clear as crystal. No doubt someone got scared. They hastily met once it became apparent to them that I was a definite danger who could unleash new facts, any of which might require a deeper and more professional investigation.

What kind of facts would you have unleashed?
Something like the shocking lie that the Kenyans sprung on the gullible administrator and government officials.

Which lie is that?
The fact that the BAI shares could not be sold to foreigners. A shameless lie as Peter Munga himself sold his own shares in Equity Bank almost 10 years ago to…a foreign company. What is even more unacceptable is how they ignored the fundamentals of Mergers and Acquisitions practices. They disposed of our BAI shares in the most questionable manner. The shareholders and investors deserve to know who was really in charge. Every time we asked who was running the show, fingers pointed high up. I do not think they meant God.

And who in your view was in charge?
I don’t know. Was it PWC, headed by André Bonieux, who wrote to my Trust in the Bahamas on February 19, 2015 well before the government closed in on my company? Why did he do that and who instructed him? Then we cannot forget ex-Minister of Finance Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo and his emotional performance during an interview with you. He certainly gave a lot of shareholders and investors many sleepless nights. Dev Manraj was another active player. Finally, the ex minister of good governance Roshi Bhadain. Now we all suspect they are placing the burning tyre around Bhadain’s neck.

Shouldn’t they? Wasn’t he responsible for the sale of the Britam shares?
Yes and No. He jumped into the power inner circle making a lot of noise like masked wrestlers act especially when they know they are going to be whipped. I do not believe he was the real boss. He was the bully who terrorised my executives and the administrators. But he was not the only culprit nor should everyone get away with it by scapegoating him alone. As the explosive episodes evolved, different actors from Mauritius jumped on the bandwagon. Bonieux, with his holier than thou attitude, was interviewed by the Kenyan TV and announced to the Kenyans that there was massive fraud within the BAI and therefore Britam. Now, if you want to sell your house, you will clean it, paint it, renovate it to embellish it because, as even an idiot will tell you, it is the way to attract a higher price. You certainly do not go around talking about negative aspects that will send the price tumbling down. Well, this unprofessional behaviour by the administrators is a clear dereliction of duty at the highest level.

How do you know André Bonieux said anything to the Kenyans?
I reviewed the video clip a number of times in which he was denigrating the BAI. Then, somehow he gave up his legal and professional responsibilities to government officials. Financial Secretary Dev Manraj was involved to his neck as well, working with a well-known scribe (WHO?).  Manraj actually corresponded with the CEO of Britam, Benson Wairegi. My deposition would have opened Pandora’s box, leading the public to question why the administrators handed over their legal authority and responsibilities to the vengeful politicians. Why would Munga and Wairegi visit Bhadain and Manraj in Mauritius?  Without holding my hearing, the commission has left many questions unanswered. My deposition would have triggered a new investigation.

Didn’t the commission know that when they first decided to hear your deposition?
The decision makers were unquestionably not the legally appointed administrators but the politicians in power. The regime decided to destroy my group and lashed out at us with such ferocity that even the average person was shocked.  Worse, they brought back some political ghosts from the past who, for reasons we can only guess, hated my guts. I believe the good judge, Bhushan Domah, had rightly understood that I could help his commission shed light on the suspected shady deals which  provoked the setting up of the commission in the first place. A video conference was even tested live with me and the Mauritian side. Subsequently, I presume, the judge must have communicated his acceptance to the secretary of the commission and everything seemed to be going on well. Even when I asked during the test whether the press would be authorised inside the conference room, the secretary himself replied that the media and even the public could attend. That was Monday afternoon. On Wednesday morning, the news came that the hearing had been cancelled! I was flabbergasted! Why would anything change within a day? I understand that a big bird sang on Tuesday afternoon that the next day video conference was not going to happen. I cannot publicly name anybody yet. I can only guess it was somebody with tremendous political power or close to it. I cannot but deduce that whoever it was did not want to hear me out, let alone allow the public to hear me. The authorities must have concluded that my intervention could change the flow of events.

According to the commission, your lawyers did not present the bullet points agreed on, which would show the arguments you were going to present. Why didn’t they?
I am surprised, because I have never heard any such request pertaining to my deposition. The communication between us was mostly verbal. I was to depone orally. I was not asked to write anything by anybody.

Naturally, I intended to help the commission arrive at an honest conclusion. I was prepared to explain the background of the Kenyan scene which rationalised the astounding growth and the future of Britam. I was prepared to help the judge and his commissioners understand the motivations of Peter Munga which drove him  to concoct such a farfetched excuse. I was ready to take the commission through the history of Britam so they could start uncovering significant evidence that would have strengthened their own suspicions.

Are you saying that our Mauritian side was misled by Munga and that there was nothing dishonest in the deal?
Something dishonest did happen .Otherwise how do you explain what forced the administrators to kowtow to the political team in charge. Were they so terrified that they even abandoned their legal and ethical responsibilities?I am not making this up. Why was a commission set up otherwise? I aligned myself to the commission’s objectives, which are to find out the truth about the sale of Britam at such a ridiculously low price? Was it dishonesty and some shady deal?  I need to know. Everyone needs to know. I also need to know why and who gave the disgusting order to treat my family like the worst criminals. They resorted to weekly threats of jailing my daughters and sons-in-law. They humiliated us throughout the world when they informed most central banks that we were fraudsters and Ponzi schemers. One day, I will face them and let them have it, straight between the eyes.

What would you tell them?
That there was no rationale behind their destructive and horrible acts perpetrated against my family and myself. We were not insolvent. Far from it. We were being chased by interested parties to invest with us. I have sufficient evidence to prove what I am stating. 

The commission is also worried about the fact that deponing from another country puts them in the difficult position of not being able to take any sanctions in case of incorrect information or defamation? Are you sympathetic to that argument?
Any excuse will do! Well, look who is worried about the misinformation and defamation I have suffered? Do you realise the inhumane treatment they unleashed against my family and some directors and employees? Don’t you find it revolting  that almost four years later, some deranged so-called journalists still lash at me and my family at every opportunity? I have just won a case in France against the magazine Challenge for an article written by a chap known as Pierrick Pedel.

Pierrick has just passed away. Did he take away with him the anger you were feeling?
I have nothing against the man. I pray that God shows mercy on his soul. Besides, he wrote only one article defaming me and he was fined for it. Now compare that with the Mauritian press campaign against me that has lasted four years and is continuing. And the commission is worried about how to sanction me in case of incorrect information and defamation? What would I gain by telling lies? I have lost my reputation, 50 years of hard work in different continents where I was recognised for my performance, my family is still being humiliated and ill-treated. Only the truth and the whole truth will attenuate that.  

Some people are wondering why you are insisting on deponing at the commission. If you want the truth to come out, can’t you just swear an affidavit that can be arranged by video conference in which you put all your points forward?
Simply put, I thought it was a great opportunity for people to listen to what I have to say. If I gave an affidavit, I believe very few people would read or understand it. Facing the commission gave me unique access to the public. The commission would no doubt have questioned me about my statements and this would have afforded me the opportunity to elaborate further on the Kenyan background. The public would make their own judgment.

What are the major points you would have wished to convey to the commission?
There is no precedent for what happened to my business and my family in the history of Mauritius. My deep conviction is that the run on Bramer Bank was the beginning of a well-prepared campaign. That notorious evening, when my direct executives, who in effect were the operational managers of the group, phoned me in London to inform me of the catastrophe that had hit us, I could hear the terror in their voices as they spoke one after the other. They insisted I signed the blackmail letter from Bhadain and Ravi Yerrigadoo offering me Rs1 for my whole group. They promised that if I signed, they would spare my family and directors/executives otherwise they would throw them in jail. It is beyond any reasonable understanding that such a mafia-like behaviour could be tolerated. It went far beyond anything ever done by any government to anyone.

Coming back to the commission, I understand you were going to talk about a value of Rs10 billion for something sold for just over Rs2 billion. How does that add up?
If, for example, you wish to sell your house you had valued at Rs10m and interested parties are already visiting, and your jealous neighbours launch a rumour that your house is infested with carias (termites). Suppose these rumours bring the price of your house down to Rs2m.Would you sell or wait until you turn the reputation around? The case for Britam Kenya is very similar. In all the negotiations we carried out with potential acquirers, we used the share price between Shs40 to Shs50. At that kind of value, we were including also the premium value of our shares held due to the vetoes enshrined in the articles of Britam.

What are these vetoes?
We were the only final decision authority for the appointment of the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer, the most important positions in any business.  For that reason, Munga desperately wanted those shares hence the secret negotiations and the abdication of the appointed administrators.

What is the proof that the Britam shares are worth that much?
The history of the performance of Britam shares increasing continually over five years substantiate extremely well the ascendency of the group. We shared a very close relationship with Equity Bank, which proved that a new innovative institution could grow fast to overtake established brands. In our case, we were also seen as innovators shaking the market lethargy similar to Equity.

That is a perception. How does that translate into money?
Simply because we were still until end of March 2015 negotiating with very interested parties.

We were constantly approached by huge financial giants to buy us out. We always maintained the highest prices in all negotiations. More than 10 years ago, we were offered Shs15 per share. We refused and at that time the price hovered around Shs9. Within a few years, the market price went as high as Shs40. We knew it would continue to go up over a few years.

Some people feel that the problems of the BAI had lasted for too long and that you were given enough warnings which you did not heed. Do you plead guilty to that?
Again, who are these people, the same nay-sayers who refused to market our shares in 1992 or the ones who went crying to the authorities to take us out to the outhouse? We responded to the reprimands when they were warranted. We had issues with the RP rules – investment in related companies – and we did everything to bring that down to 10% as required formally in 2013 to be achieved by 2016. We certainly did not want to throw away our assets as the accountants did with Britam and other valuable assets. We never stopped trying and I spent the last part of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 negotiating in Europe, South Africa and America with serious potential acquirers. My mistake was to trample the grass of the saintly Mauritius private sector and therefore made some people bien amerder.

Quite frankly, do you suspect that the low price at which the Britam shares went was due to amateurism or foul play?
In America, they say, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”.  In response to your question, my answer is it’s both. Consider the magnitude of the assault against my group and ask decent humans to analyse the incomprehensible thoughtlessness of the key players in the economy who launched these baseless accusations against us. Negative rumours against us had become a way of competing with us. We were never threatened by anyone to shut us down. There was never one case of a policyholder NOT receiving their investments or insurance proceeds over 45 years of BAI’s operation. Can any sane person explain the complete disregard for the collateral damage done to hundreds of thousands of policyholders, banking customers, investors, employees and shareholders? Good God, just to bring Dawood Rawat down!  What is most surprising is that most if not all of these key players NEVER warned me personally about the fuse they had lit to blast me from the economy; they all knew me and they surely remember the purpose of their visits and telephone calls when they needed me.  The worst part of the story for which I will never ever forgive them is how they treated my daughters, sons-in-law and a few senior executives. In one case, a minister called one of the administrators to yell why my son-in-law was still in his office, five minutes after the minister had first issued the order to fire him. Five minutes later, not even having a humane thought about the horrendous treatment.  That particular individual or the Ministry of Finance ordered the administrators to immediately sack all the Rawats and even the non-Rawats who were distant relations. Instructions were given to terminate on the spot any employee with my family name or even just related to me. Amateurism or deliberate actions? This story is very far from over.

For more views and in-depth analysis of current issues, Weekly magazine (Price: Rs 25) or subscribe to Weekly for Rs110 a month. (Free delivery to your doorstep). Email us on: weekly@lexpress.mu