The Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET) has sentenced the former financial delegate of the Presidency of Benin to four years in prison and a fine of one million CFA francs, following his conviction on charges of abuse of office and money laundering.
The judgment, delivered on Monday, comes after months of legal proceedings centred on allegations of procurement irregularities and misappropriation of public funds.
Though the prosecution had requested a seven-year sentence and a ten million CFA franc fine, the court handed down a reduced sentence, citing undisclosed mitigating factors.
In addition to the custodial sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of several assets, including a vehicle linked to the convicted official.
His brother, also indicted in the case, was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence, despite the prosecution seeking a five-year prison term.
An employee of the Person Responsible for Public Procurement (PRMP), who was also implicated, was fully acquitted.
According to the prosecution, the former financial delegate was found to have facilitated insider access for certain service providers and used confidential information to help his brother secure government contracts.
Evidence presented during the trial included procurement documents recovered during searches at the delegate’s residence. Prosecutors also alleged that profits from these contracts were laundered through private investments.
In his defence, the former delegate dismissed the allegations as a form of “hounding,” asserting that his role was limited to regulatory oversight.
He claimed he had flagged procedural delays and blamed technical malfunctions in procurement software for setbacks, particularly in files related to the Republican Guard.
He further cited the low disbursement rate to the Beninese Armed Forces in 2024—just 145 million CFA francs out of a planned budget in the hundreds of billions—as part of a broader systemic issue.
According to his testimony, procurement documents only reached the PRMP in June 2024 and were not validated until January 2025.
Despite the defence’s attempts to frame the case as institutional miscommunication, the court maintained that the delegate’s actions constituted a breach of ethical and legal standards.
The ruling marks a significant moment in Benin’s ongoing anti-corruption efforts and sends a clear signal about the judiciary’s stance on accountability at the highest levels of government.
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