Government Terminates STC Chief Executive Contract After Financial Concerns
VICTORIA, Seychelles — The government has announced the termination of the contract of the chief executive of the Seychelles Trading Company (STC), Ashik Hassan, with effect from Friday December 5, 2025, following a concerning downward trend in the company’s financial performance over the past few months. A new chief executive and a new board of directors for the company will be announced next week.
The Minister for Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Investment, Pierre Laporte, announced the decisions to the media on Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of STC board chairman Imtiaz Umarji and the principal secretary for Finance, Astride Tamatave, who also sits on the STC board. Mr Laporte said his ministry would be carrying out a comprehensive audit into the company’s finances and operations before taking further decisions.
Mr Umarji explained that the company had been without a financial controller for several months, and that he had brought certain shortcomings to the attention of the former government, but nothing had been done. He also alerted government about certain conflicts of interest and was asked to continue but to recuse himself from meetings when such conflicts arose. Minister Laporte also used the press conference to reassure the public that the government remained committed to a balanced budget despite concerns over the cost of recent senior appointments, and to confirm that bank cheques will not be phased out immediately.
