The assets of the current president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (EESC), Idrissa Seck, declared to the National Office for the Fight against Fraud and Corruption (OFNAC) was made public by the Senegalese press. A real scandal, according to Moustapha Diakhaté, former chief of staff of the President of the Republic Macky Sall. He is adamant that the declaration of heritage must remain completely secret.
According to the information relayed by the newspaper “Le confidentiel”, Idrissa Seck owns land, houses and estates valued at several billion dollars in localities such as Thiès, Toubab Dialaw, Bandia and Dakar.Moustapha Dakhalé was quick to react to the disclosure of the assets of EESC President Idrissa Seck in many of the country’s news sites. Outraged by such a violation of the law, he published on his Facebook page on Monday 1 February 2021 the following message quoting article 09 of the law text: “The process of the declaration of assets is confidential. Any person involved in its implementation shall be bound by professional secrecy. Any breach of the confidentiality of the declaration of assets, by disclosure or publication of any kind, or of the sincerity of its contents, shall be punished by the penalties provided for by the laws in force.”
Moustapha Diakhaté indicates that severe sanctions must be taken by the Ofnac, and the authors of this publication must be identified, then prosecuted and punished according to the penalties provided by the law in these kinds of situations.
In this document, the assets of Idrissa Seck are thus estimated at billions of FCFA, which seems to contrast by far with his remarks reported by the newspaper “WalfQuotidien” this Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Indeed, at a government seminar in Ziguinchor in the 2000s, the former prime minister did not understand where the fortune of Senegalese politicians came from, who, in the space of a few years at the head of an institution, owned assets valued at billions of FCFA. ‘They are not heirs. They are not, either, magnates of industry or of real estate (…). Yet, even if they were born poor, they became rich. They are the Senegalese politicians,” he said.
L’Ofnac, for its part, issued a statement in which it clearly states that the declaration of assets remains completely confidential.Therefore, according to its communication unit, the text published and shared by the online press has no basis and only commits their authors. The full release is as follows:
“Several newspapers have recently published information on properties that would be contained in the declaration of assets of Mr Idrissa SECK, President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. The articles in question have since been widely reported by the online press and other media. The Office national de lutte contre la Fraude et la Corruption wishes to stress that declarations of assets are treated in the strict confidentiality that characterizes them. The persons who are responsible for receiving and keeping these documents are all sworn in and the procedures put in place in this regard, do not allow any violation of the personal data of the data subjects. Therefore, OFNAC would like to point out that the information referred to in that article is solely the responsibility of the authors and cannot originate from its services.“
