Senegal ex-president’s son jailed in graft case

DAKAR, Monday
Karim Wade, the flamboyant son of Senegal’s former president Abdoulaye Wade, was sentenced today to six years in jail in a graft case that has gripped the nation.

The presidential hopeful and former minister was found guilty of “illicit enrichment” and also fined the equivalent of more than 210 million euros (Ksh20billion) but was cleared of the main corruption charge.

The 46-year-old had gone on trial in June 2014 charged with illegally acquiring companies and a large amount of real estate while serving in various government posts during his father’s 2000-2012 presidency.

Mr Wade, who has been in custody since April 2013, denied the charges against him.

Prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison term and a fine of 380 million euros.

The verdict comes just two days after Wade was chosen by Senegal’s once ruling Democratic Party to be its candidate in the next presidential election.

After pursuing a successful career in finance in the City of London, Karim Wade returned to Senegal two years after his father’s 2000 presidential victory, and was soon tapped for a series of increasingly important public positions.

MINISTER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

Those included simultaneous appointments to several key portfolios, earning him the nickname “minister of heaven and Earth.” He was also chosen to head the National Agency for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (ANOCI), which successfully oversaw the transformation of Dakar in time to host the 11th Islamic Summit of 57 Muslim countries in 2008 — but was also criticised for a lack of financial transparency.

Backed by his father, Mr Wade was also selected to oversee the construction of a new international airport in Dakar, the restructuring of Senegal’s chemical industry and the creation of a special economic zone.

But the younger Wade also inspired mistrust and derision among voters in Senegal, who resent his long stays in Europe for school and business, and mock his affection for traditional Senegalese clothes despite having never mastered the country’s Wolof language.

Voters made their disdain clear in 2009, when Wade campaigned to become the mayor of Dakar — a bid interpreted as setting the table for higher national political ambitions, but which resulted in his electoral drubbing. (AFP)