Pravind Jugnauth

In the 2019 Mauritian general election, the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) won the majority of seats in parliament and as leader of the MSM, Jugnauth obtained a national plebiscite to remain Prime Minister for a five-year mandate.

On 23 January 2017, he was chosen by his party to lead the National Assembly and to become Prime Minister following the decision of his father to resign as Prime Minister due of old age. It was constitutional but many people view it as a handing over of power from father to son. This was criticised in the press and around the country by the opposition parties. The Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate left the government due to this and went to sit on opposition benches.

In 2017 he has awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

In a highly controversial judgement, he was convicted on charges on conflict of interest by an intermediate court in Mauritius on 30 June 2015. He was found guilty of acting as Minister of Finance to reallocate funds to purchase a private hospital (namely Medpoint) of which his sister Shalini Malhotra was a shareholder. The judges ruled that the show of proper ethical standards by PKJ in refusing to have any active decision-making role did not hold any legal standing. This ruling was highly criticised by Senior Counselss including Yousouf Mohamed Q.C, S.C. The ruling was reversed after appeal by the Supreme Court of Mauritius. However, in the interim PKJ submitted his resignation to President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as a government minister on 1 July 2015.

On 30 June 2015, Jugnauth was found guilty of "Conflict of Interest" under the Article 13 of the Prevention Of Corruption Act 2002 (PoCA).

In 2014, following the resignation of Paul Berenger as Leader of the Opposition,President Purryag appointed Jugnauth to hold the constitutional office.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), was formally requested to investigate what has come to be known as MEDPOINTGATE, or the MEDPOINT SCANDAL, a scandal which has the potential to bring down the whole government. Similarities are already drawn with WATERGATE and IRANGATE. In line with the MedPoint investigations, ICAC proceeded to the arrest of two Civil Servants involved in the decisions taken to give the go ahead to the new Rs145m valuation conducted by Hooloman & Associates and upon which the government solely relied for the purchase. The two Civil Servants, Yodhun Bissessur and Aneerood Jeebodhun, the respective Number 1 and Number 3 at the government's Valuation and Real Estate Consultancy Services (VRECS), have, on 5 April 2011, been provisionally charged with "public official using office for gratification", for having ordered a second valuation by Hooloman & Associates which allegedly favoured MedPoint over other contenders through the procedure of tender. The charge implies that the two Civil Servants allegedly took bribes when ordering and accepting the Hooloman & Associates Rs145m valuation without question when their own original valuation was for Rs75m. Mr Bissessur reportedly admitted that he knew the private firm had worked for Dr Malotra and detained « Bill of Quantities » for his clinic, but nevertheless accepted the firm's valuation of Rs145m without disputing it. Hence, the decision of ICAC to proceed to the arrest of the two Civil Servants in question in the course of their investigations does appear justified.

The By-elections sealed the Labour Party and the Militant Socialist Movement alliance for the general elections in 2010.

In 2010, he and the MSM joined hands with the Mauritian Labour Party and Mauritian Social Democrat Party and formed a coalition known as Ptr-MSM-PMSD which won the parliamentary elections. President Sir Anerood Jugnauth on the advice of Navin Ramgoolam then appointed him as Vice Prime Minister & Minister of Finance taking office as from 11 May 2010. Ion 26 July 2011, he resigned from his office of minister as well as all other MSM Ministers due to a scandale involving one of the MSM ministers.

In 2010, the government decided to buy a hospital and to make it a specialized geriatric center. The cabinet of Ministers approved of buying the MedPoint private Clinic which was owned by Dr Kishan Malhotra and Mrs Shalini Devi Jugnauth Malhotra who is the sister of incumbent Minister of Finance Pravind Jugnauth and daughter of incumbent President Sir Anerood Jugnauth.

Mrs Maya Hanoomanjee, then Minister for Health who is a cousin of the Jugnauth family requested, in September 2010, a new valuation for « Land, Building and Services » to be obtained within two weeks with the view to closing the deal in December 2010. Mrs Hanoomanjee's yet unjustified urgent request prompted Mr Yodhun Bissessur, the Director of the Valuation Department, to write, on 21 September 2010, to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) headed by Minister Anil Bachoo requesting the expert help of that Ministry in Quantity Surveying for the purposes of the valuation of ex-Medpoint Clinic, which proposed acquisition was for use as a Geriatric Hospital, bearing in mind that the new valuation had to include Services.

Ashok Jugnauth announced his candidacy for the By Elections and received the support of Paul Berenger and his MMM. The Labour Party decided not to align any candidate in the By-elections and to everybody's surprise provided their support to Pravind Jugnauth and his MSM who then announced his candidacy in the 8th constituency. On 2 March 2009, he beat out his own relative in the partial elections and gained back his seat in Parliament. His uncle was in the other camp and accepted his defeat humbly.

In 2007,two more members of the MSM namely Joe Lesongard, the party's then president and Sekar Naidu left the MSM and sworn allegiance to Berenger and thus he became Leader of the Opposition.

In 2006, Paul Berenger proposed Rajesh Bhagwan another member of the MMM as Opposition Chief Whip. The MSM having more seats than its sister party therefore removed their support from Paul Berenger and broke the coalition. Nando Bodha, general secretary of the MSM became Leader of the Opposition and Pravind Jugnauth continued as Leader outside of Parliament.

Paul Berenger dissolved parliament in June 2005 and announced that the elections would be held on 3 July. The MSM-MMM coalition knowing the fact that the MSM had weakened throughout the years decided to propose Paul Berenger as candidate for Prime Minister. Navin Ramgoolam maintained his alliance called the Social Alliance which was composed of the Labour party and other small parties.

Another feud exploded when Pravind Jugnauth did not approve of Ashok Jugnauth- who was an elected MSM MP in 2005 and who is Pravind's uncle- to become Leader of the party and assume the responsibilities of Leader of opposition. Ashok Jugnauth left the MSM for democratic reasons stating that the party was a democratic dictatorship with Pravind as the only leader.

Leaders said the alliance MSM / MMM, Rama Sithanen insult himself and makes demagogy when it's a failure of government economic policy. In 2004 Pravind Jugnauth mentioned that from 1995 and 2000, the unemployment rate rose from 5.5% to 8.8% with 45,000 unemployed, while in the last three years, 32,000 jobs were created. He also mentioned that despite this heavy legacy, the government MSM / MMM kept the budget deficit to 6% and hopes to return to 5.5% in 2004/2005 and 4% in 2005/2006.

As Minister of Finance from 7 October 2003 to 5 July 2005, Jugnauth reduced taxes on thousands of commodities. He increased subsidies on basic commodities and gave salary compensations well above inflation rates in two successive years. He launched a project to make Mauritius a Duty Free Island.

He has occupied various positions in both government and opposition since 2000. He was Minister of Agriculture from 2000 to 2003, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2005. He served in Navin Ramgoolam's cabinet from 2010 to 2011 as Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance as part of a coalition government. He served as Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation from 2014 to 2015. He is also Member of Parliament for the 8th constituency Quartier Militaire and Moka. He left the coalition government and was appointed Leader of the Opposition in September 2014 until he was named as minister in his father's cabinet following their victory.

He is the only son of Anerood Jugnauth and Sarojini Ballah. His candidacy for Parliamentary General Elections in Constituency No 9, Rose Belle and Vieux Grand Port in 2000 made him elected as Member of Parliament from there. He was appointed as Minister of Agriculture by President Uteem to serve in the cabinet. He served as Minister under the premiership of his father Anerood Jugnauth who became Prime Minister in 2000 after winning the elections with the MSM/MMM coalition.

As Minister of Agriculture from 7 September 2000 to 7 October 2003, Jugnauth presented the Sugar Sector Strategic Plan and led a reform process in the sugar sector to ensure its long-term viability and competitiveness. He initiated a process to convert the sugar industry from relying almost exclusively on the production of sugar into a fully diversified sugar cane industry with emphasis on the production of ethanol, agricultural rhum, special sugars, electricity generation from bagasse and other high value added products. After these reforms, the sugar sector has been able to bring down its production costs significantly and better face the challenges stemming from the reduction in the guaranteed sugar price under the Sugar Protocol with the European Union.

Ashok Jugnauth who is the brother of Sir Anerood Jugnauth and uncle of Pravind was the only MSM MP in constituency Quartier Militaire and Moka and lost his seat as the Supreme Court of Mauritius had convicted him for fraud and corruption during 2000 to 2005 when he was Minister of Health. According to law, a MP who is convicted by the court loses his/her seat with immediate effect. Prime Minister Ramgoolam then announced that a By Election would be happening in order to elect an MP.

Pravind Jugnauth married Kobita Ramdanee in 1992 and is the father of three daughters: Sonika, Sonali and Sara. His father is Sir Anerood Jugnauth and his mother is Sarojini Ballah. His sister is Shalini Jugnauth .

Jugnauth studied Law at University of Buckingham, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Lincoln's Inn and became a Barrister. He then joined Aix-Marseille University in France where he graduated with an LLM. He officially joined the MSM in 1990 and was honored Doctor from the University of Buckingham with a Honoris Causa in 2005.

In various interviews, Pravind stated that he has lived a political life since birth. He stated that his father and uncles were all members of Independent Forward Bloc, a political party led by Sookdeo Bissoondoyal (a former Minister in the Cabinet of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam) during the independence rally made by the country in 1967 so as to obtain autonomy from British Authorities.

Pravind Kumar Jugnauth (born 25 December 1961) is a Mauritian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Mauritius.

Born on 25 December 1961 in La Caverne, a suburb area in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius, Jugnauth was born into a high class Hindu Yadav family. He was born to Anerood Jugnauth, a famous well-known barrister who was the second prime minister of Mauritius and Sarojini Ballah, a school teacher from a well-off family. He has an elder sister, Shalini Jugnauth.