State Minister for Investments and Privatization Evelyn Anite all smiles after her request to have her name cleared over secret meetings with Mauritius officials was granted.
This is contained in a letter by the government of Mauritius which has denied holding a ‘secret’ meeting with Anite.
Mauritius government owns over 30% shares in Mauritius Telecom Limited (MTL), one of the companies that were interested in acquiring a stake in UTL.
Last month, a whistleblower petition the IGG to investigate Minister Anite over a secret trip to Mauritius to meet directors of the said company in a move that was reportedly aimed at fraudulently handing the UTL deal to the MTL.
In a subsequent letter to the IGG, responding to the querries, Anite Anite admitted travelling to Mauritius.
She, however, claimed she had travelled to Mauritius from August 4 to August 11 2019 as part of a contingent of students on a three-month Senior Executive programme – Africa, run by the Harvard Business School and Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Now, a letter dated September 23, 2019, G. Banymandhub, Mauritius’ secretary to Cabinet, says that no meetings have been held between representatives of MT and any member of Ugandan government including Evelyn Anite.
Banymandhub said that Mauritius government pulled out of the process of acquiring a stake in UTL in September 2018 after realizing that another bidder [Teleology Holdings] was in process of being awarded the contract and that they have since then not pursued any matter in regards to UTL.
“MT has confirmed that no meeting was held between Mrs Evelyn Anite and themselves in Mauritius and they were not even aware if Mrs Anite travelled to Mauritius in August 2019,” the statement reads.
It is not clear whether the government of Uganda requested Mauritius to investigate Anite’s ‘secret’ trip but what is clear is Mauritius was responding to a request for a probe.
Anite’s case wouldn’t be an isolated case, as US president Donal Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden.
Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter over his work at a Ukrainian company.