French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is summoned by Malian justice in an investigation for “damage to public property and other offenses”. An investigating judge from the economic and financial center of Bamako “invites Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian to appear at his office on Monday June 20, 2022 for a matter concerning him”, specifies, Wednesday, May 11, the summons of a court in Bamako, which was authenticated to AFP by the Malian justice.
The Maliko association, close to the junta currently in power in Mali, filed a complaint and filed a civil action. “The procedures and rules established by Malian legislation, in particular the decree (…) establishing the public procurement code, were blithely violated when the aforementioned contract was awarded”says the document that accompanies the complaint.
“No legal basis”
The Quai d’Orsay told AFP that it had not been informed. “No notification or information of any kind has reached us through the appropriate channels”, he assured. For her part, a Malian magistrate considered that “this summons” did not have “no legal basis”.
According to an official document, the case dates from 2015, when Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was president of Mali. At that time, a French company, Oberthur Technologie, obtained the manufacturing contract for Malian biometric passports for ten years. Justice seeks to understand if Jean-Yves Le Drian, who at the time was Minister of Defense, supported the file.