In Niger, a new step was taken this week in the so-called “Uraniumgate” deal. An investigation was launched this year in France and ROTAB, the network of organizations for transparency and budget analysis, has just become a civil party.
The financial scandal says about “uraniumgateExploded in 2017. This is a transaction that was carried out in 2011 by the Areva group. The French nuclear giant has since sold 240 million euros worth of uranium through two Russian and Lebanese companies and through re-assignments. Sopamin, the Société du patrimoine des mines du Niger, which was involved in the transaction, received only 700,000 euros in its pocket.
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An inquiry was launched this year in France and ROTAB, the network of organizations for transparency and budget analysis, took action. Despite a parliamentary inquiry conducted in 2017, the Nigerian legal system has never raised this issue.
“We had already (lodged) a complaint to other Nigerian citizens, with the justice of Nigeria, in particular the Dean of the Investigating Judges, who asked us for a deposit of FCFA 20 million to be able to open an investigation in this case,” he explains. Ali Idrissa, ROTAB Coordinator, accompanied by Gaelle Laleix of the Africa Service for RFI. We thought we did not have to pay justice to do a job anyway.
What posed a problem for us is that those who are in business are now suspected, for some, of being involved at one level or another in the management of this file.
There must be truth in this matter. One company, especially Nigeria Sopamin, was used to make this transaction and it is public money. For us, Niger has been burned in this file because the state company that is Sopamin should be the recipient of the entire amount that has been paid. “
► ONalso read : In Niger, the extractive industry was accused of deepening inequalities
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