Conakry – Two former ministers in the West African state of Guinea are being held under an anti-corruption drive launched by the military junta, one of their lawyers said.
Albert Damantang Camara, a former security minister under ousted president Alpha Conde, and Ibrahima Kourouma, an ex-housing minister, were ordered on Thursday to be held in custody by a special court for financial crimes, he said.
A former economy minister under Conde, Mamadi Camara, has also been formally placed under judicial investigation, said the attorney, Amara Bangoura.
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They were questioned on Wednesday and Thursday by investigators for the CRIEF special court set up by the junta which toppled Conde last September.
They are being prosecuted for “embezzlement and complicity in embezzlement of public funds, illicit self-enrichment, corruption and laundering,” Bangoura told AFP.
The move marks a further escalation of an anti-graft crackdown launched by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander who heads the ruling junta.
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Others in detention are former prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana; former defence minister Mohamed Diane; former environment minister Oye Guilavogui; and former oil and gas minister Zakaria Coulibaly. They were ordered held on April 6.
Conde, 84, was forced out by mutinous troops amid fierce protests over his successful bid for a third term.
In 2010 he became the first democratically-elected president in the country’s history. But his popularity dived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism.
The authorities last month razed the house of former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, a three-time presidential candidate, saying it was state property that was obtained illicitly.
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Source: AFP
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