National Assembly: Moussa Bocar Thiam brought before the High Court of Justice of Senegal, more than one billion FCFA at stake

The National Assembly of Senegal adopted, this Friday, the resolution indicting the former Minister of Communication, Moussa Bocar Thiam, who will be brought before the High Court of Justice (HCJ). At the heart of the case: an alleged financial gap estimated at more than one billion CFA francs.

According to the report of the Law Commission of the National Assembly examined in plenary, the alleged facts mainly concern an alleged embezzlement of public funds linked to work carried out at the Senegal Digital Technologies Park. The technical expertise mentioned by the Law Commission shows a supposed significant discrepancy between the amounts disbursed by the State and the estimated value of the achievements actually noted, estimated at more than one billion FCfa.

The embezzlement of public funds constitutes the central offense in the case. The report recalls that this concerns any subtraction or dissipation of public funds by a person holding public authority in the exercise of their functions. The acts were allegedly committed while Moussa Bocar Thiam held his ministerial functions, which establishes the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, in accordance with article 101 of the Constitution.

In addition to the alleged embezzlement, two other criminal qualifications are targeted: criminal association and money laundering. The investigations mention the supposed involvement of several actors, as well as financial movements and acquisitions of goods involving several hundred million FCFA, likely to be analyzed as money laundering operations if the main offense were to be established.

The indictment voted by the deputies, however, does not constitute a conviction or admission of guilt. It allows the formal opening of proceedings before the High Court of Justice, the only authority authorized to judge members of the government for acts committed in the exercise of their functions. It will now be up to this court to investigate the case and determine, at the end of a contradictory trial, whether the alleged offenses have been committed.

Salla GUEYE