Guinean Justice Minister Charles Wright on Thursday ordered legal proceedings against former President Alpha Conde and more than 180 officials and ex-ministers from his deposed regime for alleged corruption and embezzlement of public funds, reported The Africa News.
In a letter addressed to two attorney generals on Thursday, Justice Minister Wright requested that legal proceedings be initiated against Conde and around 180 former officials for alleged acts of “corruption, illicit enrichment, money laundering, forgery and use of forgeries in public writing, embezzlement of public funds and complicity”.
The list includes 188 names in total, though some are mentioned more than once. The names of ex-prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and the former ministers of defence, economy and trade as well as a number of presidential advisers from the Conde regime are mentioned in the list. The letter says that the bank accounts of these individuals have been frozen.
In the letter, the Guinean justice minister said in its policy of raising the moral standards of public life, the government has set itself the objective of fighting against economic and financial infractions.
He said it was important to open judicial investigations to clarify the origin of the funds in these various accounts.
Notably, this is not the first time that proceedings have been brought against former president Conde. In May, he was indicted for alleged acts including murder, torture, kidnapping and rape.
The West African country is currently run by a military junta that overthrew the 84-year-old Conde in a coup last year after more than 10 years in power. Guinean military leader Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has since appointed himself president and promised to restore civilian rule within two years from January 2023.
Some opponents of the junta claim that it is going after Conde’s old allies to prevent them from contesting in the next elections.
