Former prime minister arrested in anti-corruption campaign in Mali

Former Malian Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga was arrested Thursday as part of a corruption investigation. Further arrests are expected as part of the anti-corruption campaign led by the Supreme Court of Mali.

Maiga was previously a close ally of ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was overthrown in a coup by Colonel Assimi Goita in August last year.

Former finance minister Bouaré Fily Sissoko was also arrested for corruption.

Sources close to the Supreme Court of Mali claim that Maiga and Sissoko were arrested in connection with a judicial investigation for “interference with public property”.

Maiga is questioned in connection with the alleged fraudulent purchase of a presidential plane in 2014, when Maiga was Minister of Defense.

“Case closed” reopened by the prosecutor

The Malian government auditor investigated the purchase and found officials embezzled public money by overcharging the plane – paying the equivalent of around € 30.5 million.

Maiga recently announced that he had been cleared of any involvement in the case.

However, Mali’s Supreme Court prosecutor Mamadou Timbo contradicted the former prime minister on Tuesday, saying in a television interview that Maiga was still a person of interest.

Timbo explained that a predecessor of his “old regime” had been tasked with closing the case but that a later administration reopened it.

“There is nothing more dangerous for the health of a republic than impunity”, he declared.

No more arrests expected

Speaking to RFI, a senior Malian official, who declined to be named, suggested that many other figures could be involved in the aircraft corruption investigation.

“This could be the start of a big upheaval,” he told RFI.

Maiga, who also served as foreign minister and head of the intelligence service, is said to have good relations with the Malian security establishment and has been accused of funding pro-state militias.

He was appointed prime minister by President Keita in 2017, but resigned in April 2019 following a massacre in the center of the country that left 160 people dead.

The jihadist insurgency continues

Mali is struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north of the country, before spreading to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the conflict, crippling an already impoverished country.

Army officers led by Colonel Goita deposed Keita last year after weeks of protests over his failure to defeat the jihadists and anger over alleged government corruption.

The military strongman has vowed to restore civilian rule and hold elections in February next year.

However, there are doubts whether the interim government will be able to hold elections in such a short time frame in the shadow of widespread violence across Mali.