WADE TAKES ACTION RELUCTANTLY, THEATRICALLY ------------------------------------------- ¶13. (C) Segura said that after the July audit brought to light the huge problem of extra-budgetary commitments, he met with President Wade almost on a daily basis. Wade apparently went through the full "five stages" of loss, starting by denying that the problem (until Segura showed him copies of 80 illegal payment commitments), to anger, "O.K. I'll throw them all out!" and finally, to acceptance, leading to the recognition that he was facing a serious problem thus the firing of then-Budget Minister Sarr. Segura reported that he constantly had to sidestep Wade's requests for advice on personnel matters, such as on who needs to be fired. FORMER BUDGET MINISTER WAS IN DEEP ---------------------------------- DAKAR 00001140 004.2 OF 005
¶14. (C) Segura made no bones that former Budget Minister Sarr was intimately implicated in the budget abuse, stating that it was clear that Sarr had lied to the IMF on a number of occasions. During the negotiations for Senegal's PSI program, Sarr hugely under-reported the estimate of the government's unpaid bills. In another instance, Sarr provided a signed document indicating the volume of extra-budgetary commitments, which is probably no more than ten percent of the actual amount that Sarr approved. Segura was able to obtain documents of more than 80 illegal funding commitments signed by Sarr. In all, at least 15 ministries and a number of national agencies received illegal funds, or commitments. Ministry of Finance contacts have told us that the Ministry of Infrastructure was the largest recipient of these irregular obligations, which, in turn, directly implicates President Wade, Karim and APIX, who are the driving forces behind the country's special infrastructure projects. Segura also explained that Sarr had lied to him in May, when Sarr claimed he had not signed the non-transparent, likely illegal, contract for the evaluation of the GOS's shares in Sonatel (Ref D), when copies of the document that Segura obtained were, in fact, signed by Sarr.
Commentaires (0)
Participer à la Discussion