Malian justice proceeded on Wednesday August 9 to the indictment and detention of several personalities, including Mamoutou Touré, known as “Bavieux”, (66 years old), the president of the Malian Football Federation (Fémafoot) since the month of August 2019. Issiaka Sidibé, former president of the National Assembly (from January 2014 to May 2020) and who also led AS Real Bamako, one of the best clubs in the country, Modibo Sidibé, the general secretary of National Assembly and the National Transitional Council (CNT), Demba Traoré, Anfa Kalfa, respectively former accountant and financial controller of the parliamentary institution, suffered the same fate.
The five men had been summoned by an investigating judge from cabinet number 9 at the economic and financial center of the high court of commune III in the district of Bamako. After having questioned them, the magistrate notified them of their indictment “for damage to public property as well as forgery and use of forgery and complicity”, and their immediate placement in pre-trial detention at the central detention center in the Malian capital. “This is not the first time they have been summoned, since an investigation was underway,” said a source close to the investigation.
Nearly 26 million euros of alleged embezzlement
The facts of which they are accused relate to the period 2013-2019, and are therefore prior to the accession to the presidency of the Femafoot of Mamoutou Touré. Indeed, he held the position of administrative and financial director of the National Assembly for several years. The amount of alleged embezzlement would reach, according to several sources who requested anonymity, nearly 17 billion CFA francs (nearly 26 million euros), “for irregular allowances and other expenses. This is the amount circulating in circles close to the investigation, “explains one of them, adding that the five accused belonged to the Rassemblement pour le Mali (RPM), the party of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, which was head of state from September 2013 to August 2020.
The detention of “Bavieux” comes three weeks before the election for the presidency of Femafoot, scheduled for August 29, and for which the outgoing president is the only candidate, after several other lists were invalidated by the electoral commission. In a press release published Thursday, August 10, Fémafoot deplored that this arrest “follows rumors circulating on social networks for more than a month, and fueled by opponents of Mr. Touré. »
She also recalled her attachment “to the presumption of innocence” which must benefit at all times and to any accused person, and in this case to Mr. Mamoutou Touré. “In Mali, pretrial detention can last a long time. There are cases of people suspected of corruption who have been languishing in prison for two or three years awaiting trial,” reports a Malian journalist.
This case comes as Mali’s A selection has qualified for the next edition of the African Cup of Nations (from January 13 to February 11, 2024 in Côte d’Ivoire), while that of the under-23s will participate at the Paris Olympic Games football tournament (July 26 to August 11, 2024).