CONKARY – Guinea’s ex-prime minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare was released from prison on Wednesday after accepting responsibility for massive embezzlement related to the west African nation’s key mining sector.
His release came as the junta that seized power in December following the death of President Lansana Conte cracked down on the cocaine trade, arresting several former high-ranking officials, police sources said.
Souare stopped short of admitting he had embezzled millions of dollars from a mining ministry fund but said he would ‘take responsibility’ for the fraud in which two other former ministers had been implicated.
‘I paid 500 million Guinean francs (80,000 euros) out of a total of 12 billion (two million euros, 2.6 million dollars) that I have been accused of embezzling,’ Souare told AFP, adding that he had agreed on a repayment schedule for the remaining sum.
‘I told them I would take responsibility,’ he added.
Released along with Souare were former mining ministers Ousmane Sylla and Lounceny Nabe.
In earlier televised interrogation conducted by junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara, the former ministers said that Conte had regularly demanded money from the fund at the heart of the fraud case.
Souare was the last prime minister under president Conte’s regime and had also been mining minister between 2005 and 2006.
While Guinea has vast mineral wealth in the form of bauxite, gold and iron reserves, most of the population still lives in abject poverty.
The death of Conte, who had ruled Guinea with an iron fist since 1984, sparked a putsch last December in which Camara came to power vowing to crack down on corruption and drugs smuggling.
– Nampa-AFP
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