Former President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and imposed a $3 million fine by order of a Mauritanian appeals court on Wednesday.
According to news reports, the case which commenced in 2023, got Abdel Aziz adjudged with a five-year sentence for corruption charges during his tenure as president – attained cohesively through two coups, and lasted from 2009 to 2019.
Investigators say he amassed over $70 million in assets during his decade in office. He has remained in custody since his initial conviction last year.
The trial is described as a rare example and lesson to all African leaders on the importance of being held accountable for corruption while in office.
Meanwhile, Aziz’s legal team dismisses the charges as politically motivated, alleging they stem from a falling-out with his successor, President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani.
The incumbent and former president are believed to have been close allies who had their relationship punctured by a disagreement after the country’s first peaceful democratic transition of power in 2019. Tensions escalated when Aziz attempted to reclaim influence within the ruling party. In 2020, a parliamentary commission launched a sweeping investigation into alleged corruption during his administration, eventually implicating 11 others.
Wednesday’s ruling cleared six high-ranking officials from Aziz’s former government but upheld a two-year prison sentence for his son-in-law on charges of influence peddling. The court also ordered the dissolution of the “Errahma” (Mercy) Foundation, run by Aziz’s son, and authorized the seizure of its assets.
