Africa’s
only female head of state, Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, has
resigned and will leave office on Friday, her lawyer says. Mauritius, an Indian
Ocean island nation.
Ms
Gurib-Fakim has been engulfed by an expenses scandal.
She denied
any misconduct amid claims that she made large personal purchases on a charity
bank card.
But on
Saturday, just days after she rejected any idea of resigning, her lawyer Yusuf
Mohamed told local media she would be stepping down.
The
president has issued no statement.
The
country’s prime minister had originally said she would stand down last Monday.
When Ms
Gurib-Fakim failed to do so, this led to fears of a constitutional crisis on
the Indian Ocean island nation.
Local
L’Express newspaper reported in February that the country’s first female
president, a renowned scientist, had used a credit card given to her by the
Planet Earth Institute (PEI) in London to buy jewellery and clothes abroad.
According to
the paper, she was given the card for serving as the NGO's unpaid director and
it was to be used to pay for the promotion of a doctorate programme named after
the president.
Ms
Gurib-Fakim’s office said she “had an identical credit card from the same bank
[and] inadvertently used the card from the PEI for expenses not linked to her
mission”.
It added
that $27,000 (£19,335) had been refunded and Ms Gurib-Fakim would defend
herself with “legal action”.
In a
statement to the BBC, PEI London said that Ms Gurib-Fakim had refunded the
money to its Mauritian sister organisation.
The
organisation said it had given her a credit card to cover travel expenses while
promoting African science, technology and innovation.
President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius throws in the towel
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Saturday, March 17, 2018
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