🇲🇺 Peter Roberts breaks down in court over Anahita death

Peter Roberts breaks down in court over Anahita death

South African billionaire Peter Wayne Roberts wept on the witness stand at the Supreme Court this week, recalling the December 2014 night his partner Lee Ann Palmarozza was found lifeless in a pool at Anahita Residence. He is suing the operator for roughly Rs 136 million, or about three million US dollars, citing a catastrophic security failure and breach of contract.

Palmarozza was 35. Roberts told Judge Sulakshna Beekarry-Sunassee that resort staff did nothing to help when she was found, and that the security system was full of holes. He also relived the period that followed: his own arrest and pre-trial detention, which he called one of the most traumatic stretches of his life.

The case has dragged for more than a decade. Judge Carole Green-Jokhoo recused herself, and Roberts is now telling his version through counsel Rishi Pursem. Emails between the couple were entered into evidence.

Twelve years of silence, and the integrated resort scheme is now defending its safety promise in open court.

Competition Commission opens a six-month amnesty window for cartels

The Competition Commission of Mauritius has launched a first-of-its-kind amnesty: trade associations and cooperatives that voluntarily disclose price-fixing or bid-rigging will be shielded from financial penalties. The Trade Association and Cooperatives Amnesty Programme, or TACAP, is open until 25 November 2026 and runs only once.

Applicants must file electronically and commit, in writing, to fixing the practices they confess to. The pitch is blunt. Six months to talk, or risk the Commission finding you first.

Statistics Mauritius cuts the export forecast to Rs 105 billion

Statistics Mauritius has trimmed its 2026 export forecast to Rs 105 billion, well below the February print, and now expects a wider trade deficit. The agency blames the Middle East war for weighing on global demand and on Hormuz shipping costs.

Textile is already showing strain after the World Knits collapse. A weaker export year means less foreign currency, more pressure on the rupee, and a tighter Budget conversation in June.

FCC questions Plaine-Magnien man over Rs 3.5 million Canada scam

Kumar Anan, 44, is being questioned by the Financial Crimes Commission over an alleged Rs 3.5 million immigration scam that promised jobs and visas to Canada. Officers searched his Plaine-Magnien home and seized documents and devices. The FCC says more victims are likely to surface as the investigation widens.

Union calls for proper inquiry into missing Bangladeshi worker

Faizal Ally Beegun, head of the textile workers union, is demanding a proper inquiry into the disappearance of Bangladeshi worker Monowara Begum, and says her case fits a wider pattern: more than 4,000 Bangladeshi migrants are unaccounted for in Mauritius.

Shorts

Quick save at Tribecca food court – A small fire broke out in the Tribecca Mall food court on Thursday evening and was contained fast.

Bet Online robbery: four kept in cell – All four suspects in the Bet Online holdup in Petite-Riviere remain in police custody after a fresh hearing.

Hospital staff protest unpaid overtime – Hospital unions massed outside Government House over a year of unpaid overtime and a staffing freeze.

Quatre-Bornes picks an MMM mayor – Lutchmee Gungabissoon takes the mayor's chair in the City of Flowers, with Labour's Indira Narrainen-Kayala as deputy.

Shared e-bikes roll into Moka City – Moka City has launched the island's first shared electric bike service, part of its soft mobility push.

Rs 1 million

of jewellery vanished from a residence in Gentilly, Moka, between Sunday 24 and Wednesday 27 May. Owners only noticed after returning home.

$61 million

in narcotics, hidden in a Malawi-registered truck, seized at the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Three people arrested.

$6 billion

is what data-cloud firm Snowflake just locked in with Amazon Web Services for multiyear AI infrastructure. The stock jumped nearly 30%.

At least 16 girls killed in Kenya boarding school dormitory fire

An overnight fire tore through a dormitory at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil, killing at least 16 students and injuring 79 others. Kenyan authorities have opened an investigation and are examining whether the blaze was deliberately set.

Dormitory fires have a grim history in Kenya. Cramped sleeping quarters, locked exits and weak fire safety have killed scores of children over the past decade, with limited reform after each tragedy.

Equatorial Guinea turns family hotel into a US deportee jail

Under a $7.5 million deal with President Trump, Malabo is holding US-deported asylum seekers in a hotel owned by President Obiang's family, despite a court order.

Ramaphosa farmgate panel meets for the first time

South Africa's Parliament convenes the first session of its special committee on the long-running Farmgate allegations against President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.

Brussels fines Temu 200 million euros over unsafe products

Brussels has hit Chinese discount giant Temu with a 200 million euro fine for failing to stop the sale of illegal and dangerous products on its platform. The penalty is one of the largest yet under the Digital Services Act, the EU's new product safety regime.

The message to every cross-border marketplace pushing into Europe is plain: the cheap-and-fast model does not get a pass on safety. Mauritian shoppers may notice tighter listings on these apps soon.

North Korea tests AI-guided cruise missiles

Pyongyang says it has fired a fresh round of tactical weapons, including nuclear-capable AI-guided cruise missiles, in what state media call a combat readiness drill.

DOJ opens criminal probe into Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll

The US Justice Department has opened a criminal perjury investigation into E. Jean Carroll over civil lawsuits she won against President Donald Trump.

Why Mauritius is going all-in on private villas

Is the big-resort buffet on its way out? A wave of architect-designed beach houses and secluded family villas is reshaping where wealthy travellers stay on the island, blending five-star service with the privacy of an Airbnb.

It is a bet by hoteliers that the post-pandemic luxury crowd wants distance, not proximity. Whether that thins beaches or just lifts prices is next season's question.