The anti-corruption pole transmits the minutes of the preliminary investigation to the Republic Prosecutor’s Office of West Nouakchott
On 9 March 2021, the Central Directorate for the Fight against Economic Crime transmitted to the anti-corruption pole of the Republic Prosecutor’s Office of West Nouakchott the minutes of the preliminary investigation and the parallel financial investigation opened into the acts covered by the report of the parliamentary investigation commission. This is what was revealed in a statement released by this direction of which a copy was sent to the Mauritanian news agency (AMI) on Thursday.
This statement states that “the investigation revealed the involvement of former senior officials, businessmen, and others in criminal acts punishable by the criminal laws in force. Other former officials participated in these acts by facilitating their execution. And despite that, some suspects have tried to obstruct the court of justice and refuse to cooperate with the investigators, the parallel financial investigation made it possible to discover, freeze, and seize movable and immovable property accumulated and illegally obtained from several crimes committed against society.
Among these officials, the former President of the Republic, two former Prime Ministers, and ministers, as well as senior officials of the State who are accused, among others, of the following facts: dissipation of movable and immovable public property, perception of undue material advantages from a public institution; intervention in commercial acts incompatible with the quality of civil servant by receiving and accepting interest from contracts and adjudications etc.
Here is the full text of this statement:
“The Central Directorate for the Fight against Economic Crime transmitted, on 9 March 2021, to the anti-corruption pole of the Republic prosecutor’s office of Nouakchott West the minutes of the preliminary investigation and the parallel financial investigation opened into the facts covered by the report of the parliamentary investigation commission.
Investigative operations have included the search, collection, study, and exploitation of thousands of documents; the questioning, hearing, and confrontation of dozens of people; on-site observations in Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Trarza, and Inchiri. A large amount of information was thus gathered from official institutions, studies of ministerial officers, and private establishments.
The investigation revealed the involvement of former senior officials, businessmen and others in criminal acts, punishable by criminal laws in force. Other former officials participated in these acts by facilitating their execution. And despite that, some suspects have tried to obstruct the course of justice and refuse to cooperate with the investigators, the parallel financial investigation made it possible to discover, freeze, and seize movable and immovable property accumulated and illegally obtained from several crimes committed against society.
These assets consist of companies in various fields, factories, buildings and apartments, vehicle fleets, amounts in banks, this is only what has been discovered in Mauritania so far. These frozen assets are estimated, summarily, at more than forty-one billion former ouguiyas, of which more than twenty-nine billion belong to one of the suspects; nine billion to another suspect who is the son-in-law of the first and about two billion seven hundred million seized with a former CEO of a national company.
The anti-corruption pole of the prosecution, after hearing the suspects, decided to prosecute the following people:
1. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
2. Yahya Ould Hademine
3. Mohamed Salem Ould Bechir
4. Mohamed Abdellahi Ould Oudaa
5. Taleb Ould Abdi Vall
6. Hacenna Ould Ely
7. Moctar Djay
8.Mohamed Salem Ould Brahim Vall
9. Mohamed Ould Dav
10. Mohamed Ould M’sabou
11. Mohamed Lemine Ould Boubatt
12. Mohamed Lemine Ould Aloukay
13. Mouhyi Din Mohamed Salek Ould Bouh
Acts classified as: Dissipation of movable and immovable public property, perception of undue material advantages from a public institution; intervention in commercial acts incompatible with the quality of civil servant by receiving and accepting interest from contracts and adjudications.
Granting undue advantages in public deals; trading in influence, abuse of office, illicit enrichment, concealment of criminal proceeds, obstruction of justice, money laundering, acts provided for and punished by articles 164, 165, 169, and 379 of the penal code; Articles 6, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 of the Law on fighting corruption; Articles 02, 36, 37, and 38 of the Law on money laundering against the first accused;
Participation in the dissipation of public property, granting undue advantages in public deals, trading in influence, abuse of office, illicit enrichment, acts provided for and punished by articles 6, 10, 13, 14, 16, and 17 of the anti-corruption law; Articles 164,165, 169, and 379 of the Criminal Code against accused No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7; Misuse of the social assets of a national company, use of the powers granted in a manner contrary to the economic interests of the company, acts provided for and punished by § 3 and 4 of Article 688 of the Commercial Code against defendants No. 3, 4, 5 and 6;
Trading in influence, abuse of office, illicit enrichment, concealment of criminal proceeds, participation in the commission of the offense of granting undue advantages in public deals, acts provided for and punished by articles 6, 10, 13, 14, 16, and 17 of the Law on fighting corruption; Articles 53 and 54 of the Criminal Code against defendant no.8. Dissipation of public immovable property, Trading in influence, abuse of office, perception of interest in an auction under its supervision, acts provided for and punished by articles 10, 13, 14, 7 of the Law on fighting Corruption; Articles 53, 54, 164, 167, and 169 of the Criminal Code against defendant no. 9; and the participation in these acts according to articles 53 and 54 of the penal code against the accused n ° 12.
Trafficking in influence, abuse of office, illicit enrichment, concealment of the proceeds of crime, participation in the concealment of illicit enrichment, granting undue advantages in public deals, acts provided for and punished by articles 13, 14, 16, and 17 of the law on fighting corruption against the accused n ° 10. Concealment of the criminal proceeds, participation in the concealment of illicit enrichment, obstruction of justice; acts provided for and punished by Articles, 53, 54, and 164 of the penal code and Articles 6, and 10 of the Law on fighting corruption against the accused n ° 11.
Participation in the dissipation of public immovable property, undue benefit from the powers and influence of public officials, acts provided for and punished by Articles 53, 54, and 164 of the penal code; Articles 6, 10 of the Law on fighting corruption against the accused n ° 13.
The defendants were referred in the case RP 001/2021 by the investigating department in charge of corruption cases with the indictments: To open an investigation against the defendants cited and any alleged perpetrator of the aforementioned acts, Issue an arrest warrant against the accused n ° 9, And considering the length of time required for a good investigation and the modalities of recovery of the property in question, and the need to prevent instructors from working under the pressure of the vagaries of preventive detention strictly supervised, the pole of the prosecution required the placing of the remaining defendants under extensive court supervision. The decision to take no action was made against a few suspects for various reasons: insufficient evidence, lack of criminal qualification of the acts, inopportune prosecution after the economic and financial interests of the State have been ensured.
The frozen and seized property will be transferred immediately for the Office for the Management of Frozen, Seized, or Confiscated Property and the Recovery of Criminal Assets, with a view to ensuring the management provided for by law.
The public prosecution will accompany the investigation of the case and will introduce the appropriate indictments to prosecute any person whose participation in the said offenses will be revealed by the investigation, search and recover by any means, including the facilities offered by international legal assistance, fraudulently acquired property. The public prosecution recalls here that only the judicial power is empowered to give the facts their legal qualification, to assess the evidence and to deduce the resulting effects. It warns against any publication of commentary which will have the effect of hampering the proper conduct of the investigation or tainting the independence of the judiciary; offenders will be exposed to the penalties provided for by criminal law.
Nouakchott, 11 March 2021
The Public Prosecutor’s Office »