The prosecutor of Faso at the Ouaga 1 High Court (TGI Ouaga 1), Blaise Bazié, announced on Friday, January 10, 2025, the opening of a judicial inquiry relating to the case of the rehabilitation of the August 4 stadium.
“Regarding the so-called “August 4 stadium” case, it should be noted that by Soit-Transmis dated March 23, 2022, the prosecution instructed the Ouagadougou Departmental Gendarmerie Group to open a criminal investigation into suspicious overbilling, conflict of interest and all other offenses in the context of the award and execution of the contract for the rehabilitation of the August 4 stadium in Ouagadougou,” the prosecutor explained.
He indicated that to carry out the investigation, a team was formed and the assistance of experts and certain structures was requested, such as the Higher Authority for State Control and the Fight against Corruption (ASCE-LC).
“The investigations have established irregularities in the award of the contract relating to the rehabilitation of the August 4 Stadium for the benefit of the SIFA SA, AL Mounia and TRUVA INSAAT group,” he said.
In view of the results of the investigations, an investigation has been opened and the case is being investigated by the office of the senior investigating judge of the ECOFI division of the TGI Ouaga I, prosecutor Bazié said.
At least four individuals and two legal entities have been formally indicted for fraud in public procurement, overbilling, and forgery.
These include, among others, Dominique Nana, former Minister of Sports, Abdoul Ajusso Ouedraogo, Director of Public Procurement (DMP) of the Ministry of Sports at the time, Traore Gni Maimouna, manager of the company Al Mounia SARL and Kagambega Éric.
“They are waiting to be questioned in depth and in view of the statements already made, other people could be implicated judicially,” the prosecutor said.
In March 2021, the Stade du 4-Août, the country’s main stadium, was suspended by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) because it no longer met international standards.
The contract for its renovation, which is expected to cost more than 15 billion CFA francs, was awarded via the direct agreement procedure to the TRUVA INSAAT-SIFA and ALMOUNIA SARL group of companies for the
rehabilitation work and to the GRETECH and CACI-C engineering firm for the monitoring and control of the work.
More than two years later, everything still had to be redone, according to a CAF inspection carried out at the end of August 2023.
At the end of December 2024. military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore, had given instructions for responsibilities to be placed on the liabilities of the stadium renovation work, which began in 2021 and which does not comply with the standards in force.
DS/te/fss/as/APA