CENTRAL BANK OF SEYCHELLES

GOVERNOR & BOARD IN CONTEMPT OF THE LAW

WE are now well into the month of March 2008. The Central Bank of Seychelles has just published its balance sheet for the month February 2008 in the Official Gazette although it has not yet published the one for the month of January.

Section 45(3) of the Central Bank Act 2004 says, “ The Bank shall, as soon as may be accomplished after the end of every month, make up a periodic financial statement of the condition of the Bank as at the close of business on the last business day of such a month and publish the same in the Gazette.” The decision not to publish the January balance sheet is a clear contempt for the Central Bank Act by the Governor, Francis Chang Leng and the Board as well, for the rule of law.

Central Bank balance sheet shows that there are no figures for the month of January.

This is not the first time that the Central Bank has failed to publish a balance sheet for the month of January. It has failed to do so in each of the year that Mr Michel has been the President of the Republic. Our investigation shows that the reason for not publishing the balance for January is because the Ministry of Finance, in connivance with the Central Bank, has been cooking the books.

This issue is particularly serious because one of the members of the Board of the Central Bank is the former Attorney General Francis Chang Sam, who is now a lawyer in private practice and another is Mr Bill Jackson, a practicing accountant/auditor.

Both Mr Chang Sam and Mr Jackson belong to professional bodies that supposedly are regulated by ethics and a code of conduct. Mr Jackson is also the company secretary of Air Seychelles and attends all the Board meetings of that parastatal.

Their appointment to the Board of the Central Bank by President Michel was no doubt to ensure that the Governor and the staff of the Central Bank discharge their duties according to the law. So, for all intents and purposes these two professionals have signally failed in their fiduciary duties and they should resign.

Mr Francis Chang Leng is an individual who has very little regard for ethics and has shown contempt for the law before. In 1998, as Managing Director of the Social Security Fund, he was responsible for the payout of up to R20 million in benefits just before the general elections. The payment was stopped only because the head of the Common Wealth election observers raised concern about vote buying.

Chang Leng also continues in the post of chairman of the Pension Fund board of trustees.