Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The trial of former Senegalese minister of International Cooperation, Infrastructure and Transport from 2009 to 2012, Karim Wade, for illegal acquisition of wealth, has been postponed until next Monday.
Wade will have to justify the sources of his fortune, estimated at 117 billion CFAF, eight luxury cars and two residences acquired while he was minister in the regime of his father, President Abdoulaye Wade.
Karim Wade, 46, who has been remanded at the central prison of the capital, is also accused of keeping several bank accounts in tax heavens.
The trial, which opened on Thursday in Dakar, has been adjourned two times.
The first adjournment enabled the court to rule on the case of one of the seven co-accused, Ibrahima Khalil Bourgi, alias Bibo Bourgi, who was absent for health reasons.
The presiding judge, Henry Grégoire Diop, issued a warrant to bring Mr Bourgi before the court, which the prison guards did.
The second adjournment, which took more than two hours, followed an incident between the prosecution and defence lawyers on issues of procedure.
The prosecution was protesting against the validity of the composition of several advisors of Wade, who are former ministers in the previous regime, Amadou Sall, Madické Niang, Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye and Alioune Badara Cissé.
Wade faces a sentence of five to ten years imprisonment.
He is being defended by a pool of about 50 lawyers, including foreign lawyers.
The court session was attended by Wade’s mother, Mrs Viviane Wade, and several representatives of human rights organizations.
