Mahamadou Zada who was jailed recently was accused of misappropriating public funds.
His incarceration is unprecedented in Niger being the first time that a sitting minister is sent to prison.
At the end of his hearing yesterday, Tuesday, by a judge of the economic and financial pole of Niamey, the Minister of Communication, Mahamadou Zada, was imprisoned, he is suspected of being involved in an alleged embezzlement of three billion CFA francs between 2013 and 2021.
At the time, Zada was the head of Niger Mining Heritage Company (SOPAMIN), which manages the state’s holdings in mining companies operating in the country.
The local press reported that the case arose when the management of the micro-finance cooperative, Taanadi, where the three billion dollars were to be deposited to generate profits, wrote to SOPAMIN a year ago to say that it had no record in its books of a deposit of such a sum.
Zada was appointed minister in April 2021 by then newly elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
In his inaugural speech, the Nigerien head of state announced that he would make the fight against corruption and embezzlement of public funds one of his top priorities.
Recently, Bazoum revealed that “some thirty senior state officials, guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation, are currently languishing in prison and will remain there for a long time.”
TE/lb/as/APA