Guinea to prosecute ex-PM over alleged embezzlement

Guinea will prosecute former prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana over the alleged embezzlement of more than $4 million in public funds intended for economic, political and social programmes, the justice ministry said.

Aug 12, 2022 - 18:53

Guinea to prosecute ex-PM over alleged embezzlement

FILE: A picture taken on 5 October 2015 in Conakry shows former government minister and economist Ibrahima Kassory Fofana. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana has been named the new prime minister of Guinea by President Alpha Conde, according to a decree read out on state media on 22 May, 2018. Fofana, 64, was previously responsible for investments and public-private partnerships in the outgoing government, which resigned last week.

CONAKRY - Guinea will prosecute former prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana over the alleged embezzlement of more than $4 million in public funds intended for economic, political and social programmes, the justice ministry said.

Fofana is also being investigated for allegedly embezzling more than $40 million in COVID aid.

"I hereby order you to initiate legal proceedings against Mr Ibrahima Kassory Fofana... for alleged embezzlement, money laundering, corruption and complicity," Justice Minister Alphonse Charles Wright said in a letter to the prosecutor general Thursday.

He said the accusations related to payments of 41 billion Guinean francs ($4.7 million) and $400,000 made in 2020.

Wright also ordered proceedings against Fofana's former special adviser, Ansoumane Camara, and several former officials at the National Agency for Economic and Social Inclusion (ANIES), a government agency, over the same accusations.

Fofana served as prime minister under ex-president Alpha Conde from May 2018 until September 2021, when the army ousted the elected government in a coup.

The former premier has been detained since April over fraud.

On 15 July, authorities announced they would investigate him over alleged embezzlement.

At the time, Wright, who was then-prosecutor general, said Fofana was accused of embezzling $46.2 million in financial aid intended to help battle the coronavirus pandemic.

A junta led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander, seized power on 5 September, accusing former president Conde of corruption and authoritarianism.

It has promised to combat endemic graft in the impoverished West African state but has also insisted it would not launch a witch hunt. A number of former officials have been detained.

In late July, anti-government protests left five people dead.