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Senegal’s National Assembly on Friday lifted parliamentary immunity for two opposition MPs over alleged embezzlement linked to Covid funds while they were ministers under the former government.
Moustapha Diop was the minister of industrial development while Salimata Diop was the women’s affairs minister under former president Macky Sall when the fund to fight the spread of Covid-19 was established in 2020 and 2021.
They have both rejected the accusations against them.
The pair are among at least six ministers from the former government whose cases have been referred to the National Assembly by the courts, for alleged misappropriation of funds linked to Covid.
Several investigations are currently under way in Senegal against former government officials.
The fund, amounting to one trillion CFA francs ($1.7 billion) issued by the Senegalese state and donors, was supposed to reinforce the healthcare system, support households and the private sector and protect jobs in the west African nation.
But a December 2022 report by the Court of Auditors revealed a multitude of irregularities, such as 2.7 billion CFA francs in over-invoicing of rice purchased for disadvantaged households and some 42 million CFA francs for gel sanitiser.
– Legal action? –
The revoking of the two MPs’ immunity was adopted Friday in a vote backed by a majority of the 165 members of the National Assembly, which is controlled by the ruling party.
Moustapha Diop was accused of spending 2.5 billion CFA francs in cash to buy face masks, “a violation” of accounting rules, according to authorities.
“My department managed the 2.5 billion CFA francs within the rules. The suppliers said they had been paid in full and delivered all the masks. They said they had given us nothing to bribe us,” he told his fellow MPs, defending himself.
His parliamentary immunity had been lifted at the end of March in a separate case for “laundering and misappropriation” of public funds.
An accountant from a public institution, currently in prison for “alleged embezzlement”, claimed to have given him 300 million CFA francs to finance his campaign in the November 2024 legislative elections.
Salimata Diop also defended herself against what she called as “misleading accusations”, in having to justify expenses of more than 57 million CFA francs.
“I have never taken a single franc from the State of Senegal,” she told journalists Friday.
Once their immunity has been lifted, the Assembly must vote to bring them before the High Court of Justice (HCJ), a special court empowered to try presidents and members of the government for offences and crimes committed in the exercise of their functions.
They must first go before a High Court investigating committee, which will decide whether to refer them to the special court for trial.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, elected in March 2024, and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko have vowed to break with the old system of governance and fight corruption.
