Private Notice Question: BAI once more in the limelight

The Private Notice Question (PNQ) of the leader of the opposition this Tuesday targeted the Minister of Financial Services, Roshi Bhadain on the post-BAI state of affairs with focus on the NIC, sums to be paid to BAI policy holders and the loan from the Bank of Mauritius, the sale of Britam Kenya, Apollo Bramwell, BAI Exchange and sums received after sale of Iframac and Courts. Minister Bhadain took more than 20 minutes to reply in detail all these questions and 15 minutes more were taken to reply to the supplementary questions. In his reply, Minister Bhadain informed parliament that as at 7 August 2015, the total liabilities of the National Insurance Company (NIC) – which took over activities of the BAI – stood at Rs 6.6 billion and that to these were added a sum of Rs 331 million as assets. There were 16,341 holders of the Super Cash Back Gold Scheme among whom 223 are not eligible for refund, 168 did not make a claim and 55 are not ‘corporate bodies.’ Out of those investment policy holders, 10,211 have been refunded to the full; 5,907 are waiting to be refunded while the other 536 cases are being examined by the Financial Intelligence Unit. As for Bramer Assets Management the situation is as follows: 153 cases out of 3,021 have been referred to the FIU while refund for the remaining 1,889 will necessitate the sum of Rs1.6 billion making a total for both SCBG and of Bramer Assets of Rs1.4 billion. As for the Bank of Mauritius, the loan facilities of Rs 3.5 billion has been extended for one year. Apollo Bramwell Hospital Mauritius has been sold to Omega Ark for a sum of USD 60 million (approx Rs 2.2 billion). A delegation of the company is expected in Mauritius this week to finalise the deal. As for the BAI Exchange, two offers have been received: the first in November 2015 for the sum of Rs 225 million but was rejected in March 2016 while the second offer is under study. Roshi Bhadain finally said that the sales of Iframac and of Courts brought Rs 360 million and Rs 229 million respectively. Answering a supplementary question of the leader of the opposition, the minister gave the guarantee that the rights of the 135,283 insurance policy holders will be respected and that at the deadline of 30 June 2016, Rs 1.4 billion will be refunded.