Former Bamako district mayor Adama Sangaré and eight co-defendants are standing trial in a case involving the allocation of land in the area surrounding the capital’s international airport.
The estimated preliminary financial loss in the case exceeds 400 million CFA francs.
The trial of Sangaré, who is facing charges in a land dispute case, continued this week before the criminal chamber of Mali’s National Economic and Financial Judicial Division, with confrontations between defendants and the hearing of witnesses.
Sangaré and eight other defendants are being prosecuted in connection with the subdivision and allocation of plots in the area of Bamako-Sénou International Airport. They face charges including forgery, use of forged documents, offences against public property and complicity, all of which they deny.
According to investigative findings reported by the Malian Press Agency, several land regularisation decisions issued between 2016 and 2018 allegedly concerned plots within an area that had been classified as part of the state’s public property domain since 1999. The proceedings concern several thousand plots.
Land dispute
The preliminary financial loss estimated in the case stands at 483.964 million CFA francs. An additional 49.39 million CFA francs relates to municipal fees that prosecutors allege were handled irregularly.
Sangaré denies the charges. The former mayor maintains, in particular, that the records held by the municipal authorities did not indicate that the plots in question fell within the airport grounds. He also argues that some areas were listed as rural concessions.
During the confrontations, two co-defendants said they had initially been unaware that their plots were located within the airport zone. Witness testimony subsequently began.
The defence had previously sought to halt the proceedings, citing, among other grounds, an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court. The criminal chamber dismissed these preliminary objections and ordered the trial to continue.
Mali’s National Economic and Financial Judicial Division is a specialised court with nationwide jurisdiction over the prosecution, investigation and trial of economic and financial offences. It comprises a financial prosecutor’s office, specialised investigating judges and criminal and misdemeanour chambers.
MD/te/Sf/lb/as/APA