🇲🇺 Six bidders circle the state casinos as losses hit Rs 1.9 billion

Six bidders circle the state casinos as losses hit Rs 1.9 billion

Six bidders are now in the running for the four casinos the state has spent a decade losing money on. Five are foreign investors; one is a Mauritian operator. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the audit firm brought in as transaction adviser, is weighing the offers and should wrap up its review by 30 September.

The numbers explain the hurry. Casinos de Maurice Ltd, controlled by the State Investment Corporation (SIC), the government's own investment arm, has run up close to Rs 1.9 billion in losses over ten years, and the SIC has pumped in another Rs 1.3 billion just to keep the tables open. The government wants out.

About 600 jobs ride on how the handover is done, and the bidders' identities stay sealed for now. The government wants to end years of public bailouts, but the real contest is not the sale price. It is whether the staff keep the rights they hold today.

The bids will be judged on price; the deal will be judged on what happens to 600 jobs.

Suspect confesses to the strangling of Saraswatee Mootia, 60

Saraswatee Mootia, 60, died in her vegetable plantation at Triolet on Friday, and an autopsy traced her death to strangulation. On Sunday, officers from the Northern Division crime intelligence unit arrested a man of 52 from nearby Petit-Raffray.

Radhakrishna Mooneesawmy surfaced on CCTV footage from the morning of the killing, and he confessed under questioning, investigators say. They are treating a dispute over money as the likely motive. He appears before the Pamplemousses district court on Monday, where the case now moves.

Civil servants told to clear outside work or face sanctions

How much outside business can a public officer quietly run? Less than some assume. A new circular tells every ministry and department to enforce a rule that any paid outside work, from a second job to a company directorship, needs prior approval.

Devendre Gopaul, the Secretary for Public Service, sent the reminder after cases of officers skipping the step came to light. It flags conflicts of interest and the disciplinary action that can follow. The rules existed; enforcing them is the new part.

PMO spends Rs 21.1 million on nine escort motorcycles

The Prime Minister's Office has spent Rs 21.1 million on nine motorcycles for the PM's escort, about Rs 2.3 million each. The bill surfaces as households brace for next fuel increase, which puts every public spending line under a sharper light.

Mauritius places 56th in a global maths ranking

Mauritian pupils scored 407 points in maths on the 2025 PISA, the OECD's international student assessment, and that placed the island 56th in the world, far behind leader Singapore though ahead of every other African participant. The gap to the top is less a scoreboard than a homework list for the classroom.

Shorts

Policewoman hurt at a Port-Louis stop – A biker with no licence, and drugs in his system, hit an officer during a roadside check.

Berenger rejects the new crime agency bill – Berenger's opposition bloc wants the National Crime Agency Bill redrawn, calling it a power grab.

Transport staff demand more security – Two assaults in a day on a bus station chief and a Metro Express driver have staff demanding protection.

Flic-en-Flac taxis rally against Uber – Hotel cab drivers in Flic-en-Flac protested Uber and unlicensed taxis working their patch.

Minister wants illegal dumping reported – Environment Minister Rajesh Bhagwan urged the public to report illegal dumping via a ministry hotline.

2nd in Africa

That is where Air Mauritius sits for the service of its cabin crew on the 2026 Skytrax list, which also ranks the carrier 52nd worldwide. A rare bright spot for a carrier that has spent years mid-turnaround.

Rs 517,711

vanished from a Port-Louis pensioner's account after a single WhatsApp call, police say. Same script, new victim, and the cash is almost never recovered.

137 mm

of rain fell across August, more than double the 63 mm forecasters expected and 127 percent of the usual average. The wet spell ran on through September, a relief after the year's reservoir scare.

PM Ramgoolam calls his UK counterpart on Chagos before the UN

PM Ramgoolam is due to speak by phone on Monday with his British counterpart, Andy Burnham, on the future of the Chagos Archipelago. The call lands just before PM Ramgoolam takes the podium at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The timing is the message. Getting the London line settled first mean PM Ramgoolam can carry one position, not two, to the world stage.

Uganda freezes military ties with Turkey

Uganda has frozen military cooperation with Turkey after Ankara refused to hand over a blogger who fiercely criticises President Museveni.

Nigeria names a panel over 37 cell deaths

Nigeria has named an independent panel of 10 to investigate the deaths of 37 people held in a paramilitary civil defence cell.

North Korea fires missiles after rejecting a UN resolution

North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the East Sea, days after rejecting a UN resolution and blaming the United States for tensions on the peninsula.

Pyongyang tends to pick these moments for a reason. A launch timed to a diplomatic snub is less about range than about who is watching, the audience sits in Washington and Seoul.

Dutch police break up a Hague protest

Dutch police turned water cannon and dogs on a violent anti-immigration protest by the far right in The Hague, making 24 arrests.

Brazil turns fritter oil into clean power

In Salvador, Brazil, cooks are turning the used palm oil from acaraje fritters into green energy instead of tipping it down the drain.

Mauritius bins a thousand meals a minute

Every minute, Mauritius throws out about 279 kilos of edible food, roughly a thousand meals, while more than 100,000 people live below the poverty line.

FoodWise, which redistributes surplus food, calls waste a social problem, not just a kitchen habit. It is hard to unsee.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

Enjoying 4minit?
❤️ Share 4minit with someone who'd enjoy it
📲 Follow us on Facebook and Instagram
🤝 Get in touch to sponsor us

Feedback | Unsubscribe