13.06.

2017
PRIVATE NOTICE QUESTION

To ask the Honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External

Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic
Development

Whether, in regard to the Commission of Inquiry on Horse Racing in Mauritius

appointed on 24 September 2014, he will state if-

(a) he has requested the Commissioners thereof to provide thereto copy

of the Confidential Interim Report thereof submitted to the President
of the Republic on 28 November 2014 and, if so, indicate if he has
been provided therewith and the actions he proposes to take in
relation thereto;

(b) copy of the Implementation Report thereof dated June 2016 will be
tabled; and

(c) Recommendations 11 and 18 of the Final Report thereof have now

been implemented

REPLY
Madam Speaker,

In September 2014, the then Government decided to set up a

Commission of Inquiry on Horse Racing in Mauritius and in this context, the
President of the Republic appointed Mr Richard PARRY as chairperson of
the Commission and Messrs Dennis GUNN and Paul SCOTNEY as
Commissioners.

The Commission subsequently effected a fact finding visit to

Mauritius in October 2014 and had formal sittings of the Commission in
November 2014.

I am informed that following the formal evidence gathering during the

sessions of the inquiry, the Commissioners submitted an interim
confidential report to the then President of the Republic of Mauritius on
28 November 2014.

With regard to part (a) of the Question, before writing to the

Commissioners, as I stated at our sitting of 16 May 2017, I wanted to make
sure that the Interim Report is untraceable in my Office. Having been
satisfied that it is indeed untraceable, arrangements have been made to
obtain a copy thereof directly from the Commissioners.

In regard to part (b) of the Question, the implementation Report dated

June 2016 was commissioned by my Office and the Gambling Regulatory
Authority to see how best to implement the Recommendation of the
Commission of Inquiry on Horse Racing. I am advised that in view of the
sensitive information contained in the Report, more particularly in respect to
intelligence gathering, it will not be proper to table the Implementation
Report.

In regard to part (c) of the Question, recommendation 11 of the Final

Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Horse Racing reads as follows:

Whilst noting the current limitations of the ICACs jurisdiction over

horse racing/betting matters, it strongly supports the proposed amendment
to the Prevention of Corruption Act 2002 to allow the ICAC to engage in
relevant horse racing/betting corruption in the future.

Unquote

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Madam Speaker,

Offences relating to Horse Racing and the gambling industry for

instance cheating are dealt with under section 146 of the GRA Act. It is of
wide spectrum because any person who commits or who is suspected of
having committed an offence can be investigated upon and prosecuted by
the Police including the specialized Division of the Police Des Jeux.

The proposal of the Commissioners in the said recommendation 11 is

to bring the power to inquire and prosecute offences relating to a proposed
specific corruption offence between private individuals relating to Horse
Racing/Betting Corruption within the ambit of POCA.

I am advised that under section 20(1)(d) of the POCA, the

Commission is empowered to investigate any act of corruption. I quote
The functions of the Commission shall be to detect or investigate any act
of corruption. Unquote

In addition Section 2 of the POCA, defines an act of corruption as

including an agreement between 2 or more persons to act or refrain from
acting in violation of a persons duties in the private or public sector for
profit or gain.

However, the corresponding offences in sections 4 to 11 do not

encompass situations as contemplated in recommendation 11 of the final
report.

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 This loophole identified by the Commission of Inquiry will be
addressed by way of an amendment to the POCA. I understand that there
is a Committee already working on all the amendments relating to POCA.

Recommendation 18 of the Report states that I quote the new

Regulatory Body should refer all future deliberate doping of a horse,
including anabolic steroids to the Police Des Jeux. Unquote

The new regulatory body referred to recommendation 18 relates to

the proposed creation of the Mauritius Horse Racing Authority.

Madam Speaker,

I am informed that the GRA has after studying this proposal, created
a Horse Racing Division and an Integrity Division under its ambit to address
all problems relating to the horse racing including cheating, illegal betting
and doping of horses. In this regard, the GRA will also sign an MoU with
the Forensic Science Laboratory and has already signed one with the
Financial Intelligence Unit. Moreover, as announced in my Budget Speech,
I am bringing amendments to the GRA Act to strengthen the powers of the
relevant authorities for a more effective control on money laundering and
illegal betting.