SENEGAL COURT DENIES WADE’S SON BAIL IN CORRUPTION CASE

A Senegalese court on Monday rejected bail for former president Aboulaye Wade’s son Karim, who is accused of amassing a multi-million dollar fortune through corruption during his time as a minister. The special court on illegal enrichment (CREI) said it was turning down the request on the grounds that it could “risk disrupting public order” and lead to the “intimidation of witnesses”. 

The head of the court, Henri Gregoire Diop, said the flamboyant Wade had not “yet confronted any witness or detainee” linked to the trial. 
He also rejected a similar demand for co-defendant Mamadou Pouye. Karim Wade is alleged to have illegally acquired companies and real estate worth almost $240 million (180 million euros) and has been in custody in Dakar since April 2013. 
Ten people have been charged in the case but only Wade and Pouye are still in detention. Wade smiled after the ruling but did not make any comments.   
The younger Wade was an extremely divisive figure in Senegalese politics in the run-up to the presidential election in March 2012, with many believing his father - who ruled from 2000 to 2012 - was trying to line him up to succeed him. 
He was often criticised for alleged mismanagement of public finances and was nicknamed “super minister”, and “the minister of the earth and the sky”, after his father placed him in charge of the international cooperation, air transport, infrastructure and energy portfolios. 
But he was seen as an outsider after living for many years in Europe and returning to high-profile positions as an adviser to the veteran president and later as a cabinet minister.
CREDIT SOURCE: AFP