Mauritius president resigns after claims that she used an NGO’s credit card for expensive purchases
Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has asserted that she refunded the money to the non-governmental organisation.
Mauritius President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned on Saturday, AFP quoted her lawyer as saying. Gurub-Fakim has been accused of using a credit card given to her by a non-governmental organisation to make purchases worth thousands of dollars.
Yousuf Mohamed, the president’s lawyer, said the president had sent her resignation letter to the National Assembly Speaker Maya Hanoomanjee, local daily L’Express reported. The resignation will take effect on March 23.
Mohamed claimed Gurib-Fukim, Mauritius’ first female head of state, had resigned in national interest as she had had enough of accusations that were “neither plausible nor decent”.
Controversy arose when L’Express in February published documents purportedly showing that Gurib-Fakim used a credit card issued by the Planet Earth Institute in London to buy thousands of dollars worth of clothes, jewellery and other personal items, BBC reported on March 9. However, both Gurib-Fakim and the Planet Earth institute claimed that the president had later refunded the money.
