Senegal to Summon Former President Macky Sall to Court Over Treasury Irregularities
Senegal’s government has announced plans to summon former President Macky Sall to court following revelations of significant irregularities in the country’s treasury under his administration. A recent audit report uncovered discrepancies in the government’s financial records, revising both public debt and the deficit figures sharply upwards during Sall’s tenure.
Sall, who served as president from 2012 until 2024, has lived in Morocco since leaving office and has dismissed the controversy surrounding the audit report as a “political” issue. However, government spokesman Moustapha Sarre described Sall’s management of the public purse as “catastrophic” and suggested that the former president could be considered the leader of a criminal operation responsible for these financial misdeeds.
“Inevitably, he will face justice. He is the person chiefly responsible for the extremely serious acts that were committed,” Sarre Journalists. He added that legal proceedings could not be avoided.
The audit report, published on February 12, highlighted serious accounting errors, including a budget deficit for 2023 that stood at 12.3 percent—more than double the 4.9 percent deficit officially reported under Sall’s government.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected president in March 2024, has vowed to distance his administration from Sall’s practices, promising a new approach to governance. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, a long-time critic of Sall, pledged in September to investigate widespread corruption under the previous administration.
In recent months, several former officials from Sall’s government have been charged with corruption-related offenses. Just this week, a lawmaker close to Sall was imprisoned on charges of fraud and money laundering.
