Former Senegal leader blasts 'political' audit row
Former Senegalese president Macky Sall has rejected as a 'political trial' criticism following an independent audit invalidating official accounts under his presidency.
FILE: Former Senegal president Macky Sall during an address to the nation from the Presidential Palace in Dakar. Picture: AFP
DAKAR - Former Senegalese president Macky Sall has rejected as a "political trial" criticism following an independent audit invalidating official accounts under his presidency.
Sall, president from 2012 to 2024, told Jeune Afrique magazine he did not fear possible legal proceedings as he slated a Court of Audit report on Senegal's finances which the country's prime minister dubbed "catastrophic."
On 13 February, the government of Ousmane Sonko announced possible legal proceedings against those behind "serious failings" after the court published a report invalidating official figures under Sall's stewardship and sharply revising upwards both debt and the public deficit.
The independent court found mismanagement as well as potential criminal offences and found public debt amounted to 99.67 percent of GDP, outpacing by a quarter estimates by the outgoing government under Sall.
The court also recalculated the 2023 budget deficit as 12.3 percent against the previously announced 4.9 percent and uncovered significant off books spending "not traced in the state's accounts."
The auditors' findings last week prompted ratings agency Moody's to alter Senegal's outlook to negative and downgrade its long-term issuer and foreign-currency senior unsecured ratings to B3 from B1 following a review.
In South Africa on Thursday to launch "The Cape Town Declaration," an initiative aimed at easing African nations' debt burden, Sall rejected the criticism in his interview with Jeune Afrique.
"I totally disagree with these allegations of falsification. This is a political process. We have always worked in complete transparency with all partners.
"Every year, the Court of Auditors has certified the financial accounts of the State of Senegal. It is too easy to come back afterwards and say that all this was false."
He claimed no member of his government was consulted or questioned ahead of the Court of Auditors' report.
"I am not afraid of anything," he added when asked about potential legal actions against his former administration.
"They can pursue it if they want. I chose to live in Morocco, just as my predecessors freely chose to go to France. Nothing prevents me from going to Senegal and I don't rule out returning there."