The Very Independent Commission against Corruption (VICAC) has put up an absolutely fantastic show! So fantastic in fact that it has made our compatriots forget about the MBC, Canal, Netflix and whatnot. Who needs paid entertainment when one can get a better show for free?

So everyone right now is drooling in front of the images of luxury vehicles, boats, houses and various properties skilfully distilled by the VICAC, which promises more of the same, to heighten the special effects of this grand movie. Voyeurism is, after all, in our very DNA and tends to cloud everything else.

The ones behind the VICAC show know that very well. They are therefore serving us every day a dose of sensationalism, being fully aware that we will be so focused on the assets we wish we had that we will forget about how they were obtained.

So, headlines about assets ‘discovered’ suddenly in a case being investigated, apparently, since 2016, are now pushing one another aside and making way for more assets and prête-noms and the excitement is at its peak! While the show about the prête-noms is taking place and hogging our full attention, the protagonist, Franklin, is having a good time in hospital having his photos happily taken and most probably meeting family and associates to ensure his business continuity. Notice how the VICAC and the police have steered clear of the Seychelles route that was clearly established by the press although the police reportedly stopped Franklin and a ‘lady friend’ from Seychelles with Rs525,000 in cash and released them back into nature no questions asked. Notice also, if you please, how the attorney general, the former and current ministers of foreign affairs, the Passport and Immigration Office, the police, the government legal advisers and the Prime Minister’s Office are all off the hook. All these people owe the nation an explanation about how a flagged drug trafficker, tried and convicted in Reunion, who has to serve a seven-year sentence there finds himself roaming freely and happily trafficking his sordid trade, here and elsewhere, until the press sounded the alarm. Surely someone must be responsible for this state of affairs? Who?

Who decided to protect Franklin from the Reunion justice and shelter him from a seven-year sentence served on him by the court there? Who has put us in a situation where the authorities in Reunion are blaming us squarely for not responding to their request for legal mutual assistance, treaty or no treaty? And while we are talking about treaties, who is responsible for the authorities dragging their feet in ratifying the International Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with France? Who gave Franklin a new passport at the speed of light with all this background? Who benefitted from Franklin’s largesse and what did they give in return? During Franklin’s trips to Madagascar, was his luggage ever searched or was he, as rumour has it, given VIP treatment? If the VICAC, as said in court, has been investigating this case since 2016, what did it do to prevent Franklin’s drug business from going on?

Oh, but we can’t deal with these disturbing questions yet! Franklin is being accused of money laundering, not drug trafficking. We will get to drugs later, read never. We are working very fast and exposing some of Franklin’s very alluring possessions to keep Mauritians drooling. Then everything will be conveniently filed where no ray of sunshine can reach it. By then, everyone will have tuned in to something juicier. Who is still talking about Ravi Yerrigadoo, Alvaro Sobrino, Yogida Sawmynaden, Soopramanien Kistnen’s murder, corruption, the Kistnen papers, Covid emergency procurements, Pack & Blister, Molnupiravir, Angus Road, etc.?  

So Franklin, Nono and their enablers just have to bide their time. Human nature is not about to change. In the meantime, let the grand show continue!