Former Senegalese Presidents Son Jailed

Former Senegalese Presidents Son Jailed

Karim Wade was on Monday ordered by court to pay a 138 billion CFA franc ($228 million) fine, dashing his hopes of competing in elections due in 2017.

The Senegalese Democratic Party (SDP), had chosen him as its presidential candidate on Saturday, raising the stakes ahead of the verdict.

"The crime of illicit enrichment being proven, Karim Wade has been given six years in prison and a fine of 138 billion CFA francs," Judge Henri Gregoire Diop said in the ruling.

He added that Wade had hidden away funds in offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and Panama.

 

NO PROTESTS

Opposition supporters inside the courtroom protested loudly after the verdict. "I no longer want to be Senegalese," shouted one woman. "This verdict is shameful."

Karim, 46, did not attend the final session of the trial and his father Abdoulaye Wade left without making any comment to the media.

Karim and his lawyers have boycotted the end of the trial after accusing Judge Diop of bias, something he strongly denies.

The streets of Dakar were calm immediately after the trial amid a heavy police presence to counter possible protests.

Karim, who staged a four-day hunger strike in January to protest over the conditions of his detention, has repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt, something the government strongly denies.

The government has said the trial signals the end of impunity for corruption in Senegal, long regarded as a bulwark of democracy in a turbulent region.

by Musalia Wycliffe

Source: Reuters

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