The latest arrest of Renganaden Padayachy concerns alleged fraud against the Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC), created in 2020 by the Bank of Mauritius to support businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, said police.

It was carried out at the request of the financial crimes commission (FCC).

In this case, police are investigating the MIC’s payment of approximately US$1 million to Menlo Parks Ltd/Pulse Analytics, a polling company known for its political analyses on social media, said police sources.

Padayachy was released on bail, which was set at roughly US$11,000, with the conditions specifying he was not permitted to have any contact with the other parties involved in the case.

He will also have to report to a police station daily, the prosecution source said.

Officers on Wednesday searched two properties belonging to the former minister, said a source close to the investigation.

Padayachy had already been charged with fraud over a previous case linked to the MIC, but was released on bail on Monday after five days in detention.

He and Harvesh Seegolam, the ex-governor of the Central Bank of Mauritius, are accused of having artificially inflated the valuation of a company, EastCoast Hotel Investment, in which MIC had invested. That investment lost approximately US$6.7 million for the MIC.

Seegolam, also charged with fraud in the EastCoast Hotel Investment case, was arrested and then released on bail in January in the Menlo Parks Ltd/Pulse Analytics case, for which Padayachy was not initially charged.

Last year, a coalition led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam comfortably won parliamentary elections, regaining power in the Indian Ocean state after a decade in opposition.

The campaign was marked by concerns about the political and economic stability of one of Africa’s wealthiest stable democracies.