If it is true, as revealed by l’express yesterday, that Jean Hubert Celerine, alias Franklin, may have given Rs10 million of drug money to a politician, then everything falls into place and explains why all the arms of our justice system turned a blind eye to a convicted criminal and allowed him to roam freely, even give press conferences and carry on with his business right under their nose.

If it isn’t true, what is the explanation for the complicit silence of the authorities and the fact that a convicted criminal in our sister island Reunion has been walking our streets without being even slightly disturbed by any of the units of the law enforcement, particularly those which are quick to jump at the throat of political opponents?

The sad thing in all this saga is that the drug trade by Franklin would have continued undisturbed had it not been for journalists who took the trouble of looking into his past. In spite of the limited means, the closed doors and the sealed lips, they managed to dig up information that the authorities apparently couldn’t in spite of their heavy means. The Special Striking Team was busy striking elsewhere; the CCID, the MCIT and the ADSU must have found new occupations; the Mauritius Revenue Authority was busy checking which of the hapless citizens paid Rs10 less at their last returns and the ICAC was doing what it does best: making sure some files are kept safely in the back of drawers which are never opened! As for the Financial Intelligence Unit, under the Prime Minister’s Office, it was in the ICU suffering from acute dizziness as a result of watching photos of drug traffickers with the powerful. Now don’t ask about the Integrity Reporting Agency as last we heard, it was still in a coma induced by frequent jet lags.

So it was only after our colleagues did the work that our money-guzzling institutions should have done without fear or favour that they felt obligated to crawl out of their long slumber to participate in a magnificent show: that of the arrest of Franklin and his alleged accomplice, not for drug trafficking, not at all! But for money laundering, a white colour crime that does not necessarily invoke the horror and destruction associated with drug trafficking. So Franklin waltzes in and out of the ICAC premises as a proud man with his hands dangling by his side and without the shame and embarrassment of handcuffs served to other suspects.

Then Attorney General Maneesh Gobin was sent to the front to explain to journalists that he can’t tell them anything about Franklin’s case without the authorisation of France, that institutions will continue to do their work and that his government continues to kass lerin mafia ladrog!!! He must have been so tired himself of Kas lerin mafia ladrog that he ran away and locked himself in his office while journalists were still asking questions.

So, Franklin is now safe from the Gendarmerie of Reunion island and will, after the headlines about him have been pushed aside by new scandals, live as happily ever after as Geanchand Dewdanee, who, in 2017, was arrested with 135 kilos of heroine. Let other countries continue wasting their time and resources investigating and sentencing our criminals all they want. Here, a bit of folklore and convicted drug dealers who, it has been established, are killing us and our children, get away with murder!

The leader of the opposition’s statement that we are getting closer and closer to becoming a narco state should set alarm bells ringing. A narco state is a country in which the illegal trade in narcotic drugs forms a substantial part of the economy. “One of the few rising pillars of the economy has sadly been that of the illicit economy with annual hard drug consumption likely now well above Rs20 billion,” Samir Sharma, one of our most respected economists, stated in l’express. That cannot happen without protection at high levels. The folklore around Franklin does not appease any doubts.