Following upon what I wrote in my last Post, I retired from Air Mauritius on March 31, 1999.  For the next two years, I spent part of my time as a Consultant with the airline and another part in promoting Mauritius as a tour destination.

Andy Bhatia very graciously organized a retirement party for me; a gesture for which I will always be grateful to him.  I must at this juncture also mention that I was invited to a number of Air-India functions along with Peter Mahta and here again, many thanks to Andy for thinking of both of us when preparing the list of invitees.

I incorporated Indian Ocean Enterprises, Inc. as a Tour Operator and used this vehicle to act as a Tour Operator for MK until March 2008, at which time, the airline decided to close their US office.

When I left full time employment with MK, my Sales Manager took charge of the office and hired another staff member to take care of reservations and sales calls.  All three members of the staff assisted me in my task of generating IT business and I rewarded them monetarily, by giving them “bonuses” at Christmas.  This mutual exchange worked quite well until MK’s Head Office came to know of it because of a “slip of the tongue” on the part of the new Manager.

MK informed the Manager that he and the staff could not receive any remuneration from a “Contractor” and hence, this arrangement had to stop.  Unfortunately, this action had its reaction and while the junior staff members continued to assist me, the Manager decided to call it a day. 

At the same time, MK’s Head Office informed the Manager to improve the performance of the region which had a reverse effect.  I found a profound change in his attitude and lack of interest in his job.  For example, he decided that the US office would start to observe holidays which some European stations were observing, such as Easter Monday, Boxing Day and the 2nd of January.  When I questioned him, he said that Head Office would presume that the holidays observed by the  US office were aligned with the European stations and hence, would not question.

In addition, I found that the MK office closed at 12 noon on Fridays and any time I called in the afternoon, I heard a recording to leave a message which was always returned on the following Monday or work day.

Well, these changes could not be kept secret for too long and sometime in 2007, MK’s Head office decided to close the office as of March 31, 2008 and appoint a GSA.  I felt quite upset as the two junior staff members lost their jobs because of the callous attitude of the Manager, who was close to the age of retirement and hence did not feel the pinch.

I continued promoting tours but found the task gradually unremunerative because of the lack of support and soon closed Indian Ocean Enterprises, Inc. and thereby became a full time retiree.  

After my retirement from MK, I still visited the Mauritius primarily to update myself on the resorts and any upgradings that may have taken place.  It also helped to renew my contacts.  MK continued to offer free tickets for myself and Manju; the resorts complimented our stays and my Ground Operator always had a BMW 725 at our disposal.

What I discovered during one of these visits were rumors regarding corruption at the highest level and while I cannot with any certainty confirm what I am about to relate below, my sources were impeccable and their revelations were confirmed by former MK colleagues.

First, monies were being funneled into a “slush fund” for use by top executives for their own personal use and those of senior Government officials traveling overseas.  It appeared that the override commission that was being paid to MK’s GSA in MRU was actually paid back to two top executives.  

This had been going back for many years and when I questioned a former top executive, his answer was - who do you think paid for the visit of the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary (with wives) to the Boeing factory in Seattle?  There was no proof of any misdemeanor but rumors continued to fly.

He said that the entire trip was camouflaged as an invitation by Boeing, but was actually paid from this slush fund.  Personal trips abroad of some other Government officials was similarly financed by this fund.

Secondly, very expensive gifts and “toys”, such as BMW cars were purchased for use of the wife of a top executive from the same fund.

All of this information came to light when there was a change in Government and MK Top Management and a new CEO discovered the existence not only of this slush fund but also Insurance Policies taken out in the name of two top executives, whose premiums were paid out of commissions paid to a certain overseas GSA.

I believe one of the top executives involved confessed to his participation and under a plea deal served time in prison.  The case against another top executive never came to court as he threatened to bring out the names of Government officials who had benefitted from MK’s largesse.

As I stated above, I could not get any evidence of such corruption but my talks with a number of locals definitely left the impression that “daal me kuch kala hai”.