A fifth former minister from Senegal’s previous government has been formally charged with corruption, as President Bassirou Diomaye Faye intensifies his campaign against graft, defence lawyers confirmed on Monday.
Amadou Mansour Faye, who once served as minister for community development, stands accused of misappropriating over $4.6 million in state funds, as detailed in a parliamentary report.
According to his lawyer, Amadou Sall, the country’s special High Court of Justice, which is responsible for prosecuting government officials for offences committed while in office, has indicted Faye and denied him bail. He becomes the third of the five charged ex-ministers to be held in custody.
Faye, who is also the brother-in-law of former President Macky Sall, joins a growing list of officials from the previous administration facing legal scrutiny. Among them is Moustapha Diop, former minister for industrial development, who was arrested on May22 over allegations of diverting approximately $4 million from Senegal’s Covid-19 relief fund.
Another high-profile case involves former mines minister Aissatou Sophie Gladima, who was remanded last week, accused of misusing $330,000 from a financial support scheme aimed at miners affected by the pandemic.
President Faye, who came to power earlier this year, has made tackling corruption a central pillar of his administration, pledging to clean up the public sector and restore accountability.
