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After the request for non-commutation of sentence by REN-LAC lawyers, the Attorney General’s Office began to file requests. On Wednesday, July 24, 2024, returning to the various crimes for which the defendants were charged, the Attorney General requested that the verdict against Mr. Dabilgou for illegal enrichment be overturned and that the sentence of Alhousseini Ouédraogo, Director of Administration and Finance of Irdo Oil, for receiving stolen goods, a crime that, although justified, was not sanctioned by the first instance judge.
At a previous hearing, the lawyer of the former Minister of Transport, Road Safety and Urban Mobility, Vincent Dabilgou, requested that the verdict of illicit enrichment against his client be overturned on the grounds that he had not been prosecuted for it. For the Public Prosecutor’s Office, this exception is legally justified, since it was raised in the Limin litis (at the beginning of the trial). “Since he was not prosecuted for it, he cannot be convicted for it,” he clarified.
Returning to the fact that Jean-Gabriel Céré and Vincent Dabirgou were charged with embezzlement of public funds, the Public Prosecutor’s Office considers both guilty of these crimes. The first fact is not in dispute. He confirmed that he did use a strategy to extract funds, but that the money was not used on behalf of the ministry. He also admitted that the funds extracted were given to Minister Vincent Dabirgou, who in turn gave him 10% of the recovered funds.
The former minister denied the facts, as he had since the beginning of the trial (first level). To prove his innocence, he insisted that no written document had been produced to date ordering his administrative and financial directors to embezzle funds. For the prosecutor’s office, this did not absolve him from the fact that he was prosecuted, because he said: “Written evidence is only a means. Since there are a lot of clues, this constitutes sufficient evidence,” he recalled.
Therefore, he continues, the absence of written evidence is perfectly logical, given that Vincent Dabilgou is the first head of the New Era of Democracy (NTD) and the minister of the institution that finances it. In short, the Almighty. “Given his position, Jean Gabriel Séré, appointed by the minister, is in a disadvantageous position and cannot ask the minister for written documents. Therefore, we understand that the absence of written documents by Mr. Dabilgou is his way of disguising himself, which is why when Mr. Seydou Compaoré, a motorcycle salesman, wrote to him, he first apologized, but the minister’s answer to his question was a resounding “yes”, ” the Attorney General’s Office emphasizes.
Regarding the charges of conspiracy to embezzle public funds, Ousmane Sigué (corresponding to the department at the time of the facts) Alhousselini Ouédraogo, Minata Coulibaly (commercial agent of Green Energy at the time of the facts) and Malick Koanda (general director of the National Railway Heritage Company at the time of the events), the Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that the four, given the positions they occupied, helped the minister and his DAF to embezzle public funds in their own way. “Ousmane Sigué admitted the facts, saying that he had drawn up the contracts regulating the embezzlement. Malick Koanda refused to sign these contracts at first. But later he signed them. Minata Coulibaly admitted to having invoiced 102 million CFA francs and that these funds were delivered to the Ministry of Justice through Jean Gabriel Séré, while Alhousseini Ouédraogo also provided cash to Mr. Séré.
As for the crime of secret financing of political parties, the crime was constituted by the Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General echoed the statement of a witness that “election campaigns are very expensive and must be prepared at least a year before the elections”, recalling that these actions were indeed carried out a year before the elections; the funds allocated to the operation of the regional directors were returned to Ouagadougou to finance the New Era of Democracy (NTD); the only regional director who refused to give in was dismissed from his post.
In view of all the above, the Attorney General requested the Court to declare that there were no grounds to convict Vincent Dabilgou of illicit enrichment; that the Court rule on the sentence not pronounced by the first instance judge on Alhousseini Ouédraogo, who was charged with receiving stolen property; that Minata Coulibaly’s sentence be suspended for four years in view of his health; that arrest warrants be issued for the other defendants and that they be detained in a detention centre; that their property be confiscated up to the amount reserved by the judge in order to obtain compensation; and that the judgment handed down by the High Court confirm the rest of the judgment handed down by the Criminal Court.
Erwan Compaore
Lefaso.net
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