Mayor of Senegal Capital Sentenced to Five Years for Fraud

(Bloomberg) -- A court in Senegal sentenced opposition leader Khalifa Sall, the mayor of the West African nation’s capital Dakar, to five years in prison for fraud.

Sall, who’s been detained since last year, was convicted of swindling public funds and forgery, Malick Lamotte, the head of Dakar’s correctional court, said Friday. Sall was also ordered to pay a fine of 5 million CFA francs ($9,033), he said.

Sall plans to appeal the decision, his lawyer, Cire Cledor Ly, said by phone from Dakar.

The mayor was arrested on suspicion of embezzling 1.8 billion CFA francs. Sall denied the allegations, saying his detention was politically motivated. He is not related to President Macky Sall.

Charges of embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and criminal conspiracy against Sall were dropped, Lamotte said. The city’s administrative and financial director, Mbaye Toure, and accountant Yaya Bodian were also sentenced to five years in prison.

Sall was seen as a potential opposition candidate in next year’s scheduled presidential election.

--With assistance from Olivier Monnier

To contact the reporter on this story: Malick Ciss in Dakar at mciss@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Steve Geimann at sgeimann@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill, Debarati Roy

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