In Mali, ex-prime minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga imprisoned in a case of suspected fraud – archyworldys

Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, who was from 2017 to 2019 the prime minister of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), overthrown a year ago by a coup d’etat, was imprisoned, Thursday, August 26, in a case of alleged fraud, announced his lawyer, Kassoum Tapo.

Heavyweight of politics malienne, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, 67, was also minister of foreign affairs and defense and head of the intelligence services. He has never confirmed or officially denied the intentions attributed to him to be a candidate for the presidential chair.

“Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga was put on deposit this Thursday by the Supreme Court of Mali in a case of attack on public property”, said a member of the Supreme Court, who requested anonymity.

He was questioned in connection with the purchase in 2014, while he was Minister of Defense, of a presidential plane, an acquisition pinned by the Auditor General’s Office (BVG), an independent Malian authority, which denounced practices overbilling, embezzlement of public funds, fraud, influence peddling and favoritism.

“This presidential plane affair can splash a lot of people, it may be the start of a big laundry”, commented a former senior Malian official.

State impotence

Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga is reputed to have an important network in Malian and regional security circles.

Appointed prime minister in 2017, he was forced to resign after the massacre of some 160 Fulani civilians in April 2019 in Ogossagou (center) and a series of demonstrations against the management of the state.

President Keïta was overthrown by a military putsch on August 18, 2020 following several months of protests against corruption and the state’s powerlessness in the face of violence.

The new strongman, Colonel Assimi Goïta, pledged to give way to civilians, after presidential and legislative elections scheduled for February 2022.

The violence in Mali, which began with independence and then jihadist rebellions in the north of the country, then spread to the center and the south, mingling with inter-communal conflicts and villainous attacks in areas where the influence of the ‘State is very weak.

The phenomenon has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, where groups affiliated with Al-Qaida or the Islamic State organization also operate.