” Defend [son] honor” once morest “extravagant, fallacious accusations, concocted by a hybrid team selected in the service of injustice”. With this declaration, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the one who led Mauritania from 2008 to 2019, that is to say almost 21 years, had given an overview of what will be his legal battle before the Justice of his country. This legal battle has entered its final phase with the trial which opened on January 25, 2023 in Nouakchott, Mauritania. In truth, the 66-year-old man has reason to be worried because he is accused of having abused power to unduly amass an immense fortune. On him and a dozen former Prime Ministers, ministers and businessmen, weigh heavy charges: “illicit enrichment”, “abuse of functions”, “traffic of influence”, “money laundering”. And all are suspected of embezzlement in the award of public contracts or the sale of state real estate and land. From the foregoing, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is aware that in the event of proven guilt, the Justice of his country will have a very heavy hand once morest him. Which would poison, forever, the old days he hoped to live peacefully with his grandchildren. But if he fulminates to this day, it is because the man has never recognized the facts with which he is accused. He and his relatives are rather brandishing the argument of settling political scores, accusing in particular his former right-hand man and current president, Mohammed Ould Ghazouani and the Muslim Brotherhood, of instrumentalizing justice to carve out croupiers for him.
This trial is educational for all the countries of the continent
Until the opening of the trial, the Aziz camp continued to denounce irregularities in the procedure initiated since the end of 2019. The ex-president and his supporters do not understand, for example, that the case did not have rather brought before the High Court of Justice to rule on his case, as a former head of state. From there to believe that the trial lacks elegance, there is a step that some are not embarrassed to cross. Be that as it may, force must remain with the law. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz becomes one of the few former heads of state on the continent to answer for his actions in a corruption case. In view of the profiles of the defendants once morest a backdrop of accusations of instrumentalization of justice, we are indeed facing a historic trial in which the Mauritanian judiciary is playing its credibility. The question now is whether this Justice will be able to mark its independence. In any case, either the Mauritanian judiciary emerges stronger from this emblematic trial, or it emerges with a tarnished image like some of its peers in other countries of the continent, who have become instruments in the service of the powerful of the moment. . That said, while waiting to see what this trial has in store for the Mauritanian people and Africans, we can consider that it is educational for all the countries of the continent where many leaders have no qualms regarding taking control of the public funds. Indeed, corruption, mismanagement, embezzlement characterize many powers in Africa. And with impunity. It is therefore to be hoped that the legal troubles of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and company will open the eyes of many leaders who believe themselves untouchable.
” The country ”
