Senegal ex-president’s son on graft trial

What you need to know:

  • Mr Wade’s legal team has complained about “a gross manipulation” of the facts in the case and say their client is being set up as part of a conspiracy to stop him running for the 2017 presidential election.

DAKAR, Thursday

The flamboyant “super minister” son of former Senegalese leader Abdoulaye Wade went on trial Thursday accused of accumulating a multi-million dollar fortune through corruption while in office.

Mr Karim Wade, 45, is alleged to have acquired by corrupt means companies and real estate worth almost $240 million (Sh20 billion) and has been in custody in Dakar for more than a year.
Mr Wade, dressed all in white, told the packed Dakar anti-corruption court in his opening statement that he was a “political prisoner”.

Prosecutors claim the money he made is in such tax havens as Monaco and Singapore, although his defence claim to have demonstrated that almost half is in a Singapore account which doesn’t belong to Wade.

His lawyers say the real amount linked to Wade is closer to $2.7 million, a sum he earned legitimately as a European trader before entering government.
A large crowd gathered at the court to support the defendant including his mother Viviane and several senior political allies.

Flanked by two prison guards he arrived to chants of “Karim! Karim!” and greeted his supporters with a smile and two arms raised in a gesture of victory.
Several alleged accomplices are also expected to stand trial, although the number was not immediately clear.

GROSS MANIPULATION

Mr Wade’s legal team has complained about “a gross manipulation” of the facts in the case and say their client is being set up as part of a conspiracy to stop him running for the 2017 presidential election.

The former ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) accuses the regime of Macky Sall, who ended the 12-year rule of Wade’s father in the 2012 presidential election, of conducting a “witch hunt” against the PDS hierarchy since it came to power.

Judge Henry Gregory Diop of the special court against ill-gotten wealth adjourned the opening of the landmark trial.

The much awaited trial was adjourned a bare 15 minutes after the sitting was declared open.

About 77 witnesses accompanied the former president’s son along with 30 defence lawyers after spending 15 months in remand.

Judge Diop explained that the adjournment was due to the absence of Mr Ibrahim Khalil alias Bourgi Bibo, who is one of the main co-accused.