A minister in Senegal’s former government has been jailed on charges of extortion, embezzlement and money laundering during his previous role as head of the national lottery, his lawyer told AFP Friday.
Lat Diop headed the national lottery from 2020 and then served as sports minister from 2023 to 2024 under ex-president Macky Sall.
He is the first former government minister to be detained under the new authorities, who took office in April.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and his Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko have repeatedly said they will seek accountability from the previous administration.
Specifically, Sonko on Thursday vowed investigations into what he termed “widespread corruption” under the previous administration, accusing it of having fiddled its financial figures.
“The policy of unbridled indebtedness (under former president Macky Sall) has led to the use of resources that is not transparent and that is conducive to widespread corruption,” he told journalists, denouncing the “embezzlement of public funds en masse”.
Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye swept to power in March on a pledge of radical change in the West African nation.
The pair ran on a ticket of social justice, sovereignty and leftist pan-Africanism — raising hopes in the country battling a high cost of living and widespread unemployment.
After being sworn in in April, Faye requested that Sonko conduct a thorough review of the country’s financial situation, with the stock-take’s conclusions shared on Thursday.
“We had no idea that things were so catastrophic,” Sonko said, accusing the former authorities of having lied and falsified figures, particularly with international partners.
“The Macky Sall administration lied to the people, lied to its partners, fiddled with the figures to give an economic and financial picture that had nothing to do with reality,” Sonko said.
“All those who played their part… will have to explain to the Senegalese people why and how they were able to plunge the country into this situation,” he added.
Besides former president Sall, Sonko pointed the finger at ex-prime minister Amadou Ba and two former finance ministers.
Also speaking at the press conference, Justice Minister Ousmane Diagne said the actions appeared to be “criminal in nature, which the competent judicial authorities will have to determine by means of investigations that they deem appropriate”.
Faye in mid-September dissolved the opposition-dominated national assembly and called fresh legislative elections, banking on the move to implement his policy agenda.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in September that Senegal’s economic prospects remained “challenging for the remainder of the year”.
Following a visit to the country by its staff, the fund said it expected the country’s budgetary situation “to deteriorate amid lower revenue collections and increased expenditure on energy subsidies and interest payments”.
To lower public debt the IMF urged Sonko’s government to implement measures “including streamlining tax exemptions and phasing out untargeted and costly energy subsidies”.
Senegal’s national statistics agency in September reported an unemployment rate of 21.6 percent in the second quarter, up three percent on the same period in 2023.
Meanwhile scores of Senegalese continue to risk their lives leaving the country in search of a brighter future in Europe, with dozens dying every year on the perilous Atlantic crossing.
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The government has said it will launch a national transformation agenda in early October, aimed at bringing about “a lasting transformation of the Senegalese economy and build a sovereign, fair and prosperous Senegal”.
Faye and Sonko have repeatedly said they will seek accountability from the previous administration, with a number of former officials having been prevented from leaving the country.
Speaking at Thursday’s press conference, economy minister Aboudrahmane Sarr said the budget deficit which was put at an average of 5.5 percent of GDP over the period 2019 to 2023 had in reality been 10.4 percent.
Public debt had been announced at 65.9 percent of GDP, when in fact it had been 76.3 percent, he added.
Sonko and Sarr said they planned to broaden the tax base, cut waste in government spending, abolish energy subsidies and attempt to formalise Senegal’s largely informal economy.
As the first casualty, Diop was jailed late Thursday, the same day Sonko vowed investigations into what he termed “widespread corruption” under the former authorities.
Diop is being questioned as the ex-national lottery head, not as a minister, his lawyer El Hadji Diouf said, adding that his client denied the charges.
“The three offences in question do not exist,” Diouf said, adding he would be asking for the proceedings to be cancelled.
Diop is the first former senior official to be detained by a new financial judicial mechanism launched this month, his lawyer said.
The judicial body brings together specialised magistrates and investigators to tackle financial crime and corruption and was created by the former authorities.
Diouf said the charges against his client were based solely on statements made by a former boss of an online sports betting company, partnered with the national lottery.
According to press reports, the latter said during the hearings that he had given five billion CFA francs ($8.5 million) to Diop, which he disputes. AFP
