Mauritius
President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim resigned on Saturday after being
embroiled in a scandal over her use of a credit card to buy luxury
personal items, in an abrupt change of heart after vowing she would not
stand down.
Gurib-Fakim,
Africa's only female head of state, submitted her resignation in the
"national interest," her lawyer Yousouf Mohamed told reporters.
He
said her resignation would take effect on March 23, a move that will
bring down the curtain on a saga that has gripped the Indian Ocean
archipelago for weeks.
Gurib-Fakim
had vowed to fight the accusations that first appeared in local
newspaper L'Express -- that she used a bank card provided by an NGO to
make personal purchases, including jewellery and luxury goods worth at
least 25,000 euros.
Prime
Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced a week ago that Gurib-Fakim had
agreed to resign, with a date set for her departure after last Monday's
ceremony celebrating the Indian Ocean archipelago's 50 years of
independence.
But on
Wednesday, a statement from the presidency lashed out at "weeks of
attacks and false allegations" and said Gurib-Fakim planned to clear her
name and would not go.
It is
not clear what prompted her about-turn, but her lawyer said Saturday she
was "relieved" she had made the decision to resign after enduring a
"difficult" time in recent weeks.
- Links to Angolan billionaire -
Gurib-Fakim,
whose role is mostly ceremonial, is a scientist and biologist of
international renown, and in 2015 joined the London-based Planet Earth
Institute (PEI) to try to develop scientific capacity in Africa.
The
presidency said that in May 2016, she received a credit card from PEI to
pay for travel and logistical expenses linked to her role but
inadvertently used it for unrelated personal expenses.
Gurib-Fakim
said she immediately informed the PEI and paid back the amount, as well
as all expenses paid by the PEI for her missions.
This
was confirmed by the PEI, which said in a statement earlier this week
that Gurib-Fakim "thus never received gifts, favours, wages or expenses
from the PEI, nor undue benefits or advantage".
An
investigation by L'Express detailed the purchase of a laptop in
September 2016, clothes, shoes and jewellery in October, more jewellery
in November and luxury clothing in December.
However
it was not just the expenditure that provoked anger in Mauritius, but
the president's association with Angolan billionaire Alvaro Sobrinho who
helped found the PEI and is himself being investigated in Switzerland
and Portugal for suspected fraud.
In 2017 he received permission to open an investment bank in Mauritius, prompting allegations of favouritism on his behalf.
Gurib-Fakim, under pressure from the opposition, resigned shortly afterwards from her role at the PEI.
AFP
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