Guinea's public prosecutor's office will initiate new proceedings against former Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana for the alleged embezzlement of more than 4.5 million euros intended for economic and social programs, the Minister of Justice announced on Thursday.
The latter is already under another investigation relating to the possible embezzlement of more than 40 million dollars intended for the management of the Covid epidemic.
"
I urge you to initiate legal proceedings against Mr. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana (...) for alleged acts of embezzlement, money laundering, corruption and complicity
", wrote the Minister of Justice Alphonse Charles Wright in a letter to the Attorney General.
He said the charges related to payments of 41 billion Guinean francs (4.5 million euros) and $400,000 in 2020. The minister also ordered the prosecution of a former economic and financial adviser to the prime minister, Ansoumane Camara, and several officials of the National Agency for Economic and Social Inclusion (Anies), the body responsible for implementing the poverty reduction program under investigation.
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Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, who has been incarcerated since last April, served as former President Alpha Condé's prime minister from May 2018 until September 2021, when the government was overthrown in a military coup.
On July 15, Alphonse Charles Wright, who was then Attorney General, announced that Ibrahima Kassory Fofana was under investigation into the embezzlement of $46.2 million intended for the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. .
The soldiers who took power by force on September 5, 2021 have made the fight against corruption deemed endemic in Guinea one of their major proclaimed battles.
Several former officials are detained in this context.
