Ex-chief of staff to deposed Mali president detained in graft probe

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - The former chief of staff of Mali's ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was detained Thursday in connection with the alleged fraudulent purchase of a presidential plane in 2014, local media reported.

Mahamadou Camara is being held in the central prison in the capital Bamako following an arrest warrant issued Monday, said local daily aBamako.

Arrested along with two other people, Camara had earlier appeared before a judge, it said.

Security forces in Mali on Aug. 26 arrested former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and former Finance Minister Bouare Fily Sissoko over the same case.

In October 2014, the Auditor General’s Office in the West African nation revealed that the transaction involved 20 billion CFA francs ($35.6 million).

Maiga had been serving as minister of defense and veterans affairs at the time.

He faces five charges of forgery, corruption, favoritism, breach of trust and influence peddling.

The Auditor General had unearthed cases of overbilling as well as numerous anomalies in the procurement process.

The case had been closed in 2018 but was reopened last year.

Maiga is believed to have been a close ally of former President Keita, who was overthrown by Colonel Assimi Goita in August 2020.

He was appointed Keita's prime minister in 2017 but resigned in April 2019 following a massacre in which 160 people were killed by Dogon hunters in an attack on a Fulani village in the central Mopti region.

Sissoko was charged with offences against public property, forgery, favoritism, nepotism and corruption.

Goita has promised to conduct elections in February next year to restore civilian rule.