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A cabinet minister had defended the government’s controversial Chagos island deal after it emerged that one of its architects has been arrested and is facing money laundering charges.
Former Mauritius prime minister Pravind Jugnauth “is under arrest”, the state-run Financial Crimes Commission said on Sunday.
In response, the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told GB news: “Let’s not lose sight of what we are trying to do here… it is about securing the long-term future of an important facility.”
He added that it would be “irresponsible” to not engage “with this issue and put a UK-US base’s future in question.”
The arrest of Mr Jugnauth follows searches by FCC detectives of locations including his home, where an amount worth $2.4 million was seized, Reuters reported the FCC said.
His lawyer, Raouf Gulbul, also told reporters his client has been provisionally charged in an alleged money laundering case and denied the charges.
The deal to hand over the islands was reached with the former Mauritian leader, but his successor Navin Ramgoolam and US president Donald Trump have been critical.
Meanwhile, Tony Abbott, former prime minister of Australia, called the deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius an “absurd situation”.
And shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: “We’re being asked to spend billions to lease back a military base that we own freehold.
“Our view in the Conservative Party as the opposition is, forget the deal and spend every penny of that on our armed forces.”
The government insists the deal is crucial to the national security of the UK and the US.
Last week ministers claimed the UK had no option but to give up sovereignty on the islands, which house the crucial Diego Garcia UK/US airbase, because they were in danger of losing control of the satellite communications system.
But a written response to Tory shadow armed forces minister Mark Francois from communications minister Sir Christopher Bryant appeared to dismiss that concern this week.
Sir Christopher said: “Individual countries have the sovereign right to manage and use the radio spectrum, within their borders, the way they wish, subject to not causing interference with other countries.”
Sir Keir has told MPs that the need to secure the legal status of the base is a matter of national security and the deal would guarantee a lease on the base for 99 years at a reported cost of up to £18 billion to the taxpayer.
It is understood that the deal is opposed by Donald Trump’s new US administration although it had received support from Joe Biden.
Concerns over potential interference from China as well as limitations on taking nuclear weapons to the secretive base, which is crucial for defence in the Indian Ocean, mean that Trump is understood to want to veto the deal.
