Guinea has detained two ex-leaders on corruption charges, prosecutors said Thursday, as the ruling junta widens its crackdown on prominent figures close to ousted president Alpha Conde.
Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, a former special forces commander, seized power last September, accusing Conde of corruption and authoritarianism.
A prosecutor at a special court for financial crimes (CRIEF) said former parliament speaker Amadou Damaro Camara and ex-electoral chief Louceny Camara, who also served as tourism minister, were “sent to prison”.
They were charged with embezzlement of public funds, illicit enrichment, money laundering and corruption, prosecutor Aly Toure told the media.
The two men are senior figures in the RPG party of Conde. During opposition protests in 2018 in parts of the capital that were violently repressed, Damara Camara called for demonstrations to be quashed with firearms rather than truncheons.
With the latest arrests, the junta has targeted at least nine senior leaders from the former regime including eight ex-ministers.
One of those still held is former prime minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, accused of embezzlement.
Conde, 84, was forced out by mutinous troops amid fierce protests over his successful bid for
a third term.
In 2010 he became the first democratically elected president in the country’s history. But his popularity dived in his second term as critics accused him of authoritarianism.
The ruling junta has promised to combat endemic corruption in the impoverished West African state but has also insisted it would not launch a witch hunt.
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