Guinea’s Military Leaders have ordered prosecutors to take legal action against former president Alpha Conde, whom it overthrew in a 2021 coup, and more than 180 other officials and ex-ministers.
The announcement, made in a letter from the justice minister to public prosecutors, marks a new stage in the fight, targeting Conde as well as many of his senior officials and former ministers for alleged corruption.
They include ex-prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and the former ministers of defence, economy and trade as well as a number of presidential advisers from the Conde regime.
The letter orders prosecutors to pursue the people listed for alleged acts of “corruption, illicit enrichment, money laundering, forgery and use of forgeries in public writing, embezzlement of public funds and complicity”.
According to the letter, the list includes 188 names in total, though some are mentioned more than once. Their bank accounts have been frozen, the letter said.
The military, which seized power on September 5, 2021, has made the fight against corruption — reputed to be endemic in the West African nation — one of its key battles.
This is not the first time that proceedings have been brought against the 84-year-old former president.
He was indicted in May for alleged acts including murder, torture, kidnapping and rape, in a country where the repression of political demonstrations is often brutal.
Several former officials have been detained as part of the junta’s anti-corruption campaign, including some cited in the letter.
Guinea has been under military government since the coup that ousted Conde after more than 10 years in power.
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