In Mali, the case of the contract for the presidential plane and military equipment, which was closed in 2018, is re-launched. Ministers, advisers to the president and businessmen had been involved.
“Further investigations were carried out and the ministers to be heard” were confirmed in ORTM, state television, Supreme Court Prosecutor Mamadou Timbo.
Ministers, advisers to the president and businessmen had been involved, including Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga, the then Minister of Defense, in this case from 2014. During the presidency of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, they bought “a presidential plan that costs nearly 20 billion FCFA and contracts – worth tens of billions of FCFA – signed by the government for the supply of military equipment, had made headlines.
Then had reports from the Court of Auditors and the Auditor General attach calculations and many deviations. The case was closed in 2018 and is therefore again in the hands of the judges.
“They want to overthrow former ministers” The Supreme Court prosecutor also stated that the High Court of Justice, which is to try the president or members of the government, is currently not working due to the transition period. It is therefore before the Assize Court that the case must be assessed.
This is to be sure that facts are not one day prescribed because “nothing is more dangerous to a republic’s good health than impunity”, according to the Attorney General. A direct answer, even if it is not named, to Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga, quoted in the file as Secretary of Defense at the time. Recently, in the media, the person who was also the Prime Minister recalled the classification without follow-up in 2018.
But the case was launched in March 2020 on behalf of the then Minister of Justice Malick Coulibaly. Since then, some personalities have been cleared, as is the case with the former minister and IBK adviser, Mamadou Camara. But the legal proceedings are therefore far from clear, according to the Supreme Court prosecutor.
“They play politics”, comments a close relative of Soumeylou Boubeye Maïga, who assesses that “the transitional authorities are falling into populism”. “They do not care about justice, they want to bring down former ministers to flatter the public,” he condemned before adding: “They are trying to get rid of potential presidential candidates.”
.
