Compaore was forced to step down on October 31 after 27 years in power. Photo/AFP
OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 31 – Burkina Faso’s government said it had no proof that ousted president Blaise Compaore stole the equivalent of around $78 million (64 million euros) from state coffers when he fled to Ivory Coast.
“I have no proof to date that the former president took 42 billion CFA francs with him,” Economy Minister Jean Gustave Sanon said on Tuesday as rumours swirled on social media and in the local press that Compaore helped himself to state funds before fleeing.
An online newspaper claimed that President Michel Kafando had raised the issue with his Ivorian counterpart Alassane Ouattara during a summit in Nigeria.
But Sanon said: “After checking the treasury and the accounts, my colleagues have not flagged any (missing funds) could be linked to the former president.”
He said all ministries would be required to carry out audits to ensure that no funds are siphoned off.
“Those who took money would have to respond as one of the pillars of the transition” is the fight against impunity, Sanon said.
Compaore was forced to step down on October 31 after 27 years in power, following two days of violent popular protests that rocked the impoverished west African country.
An interim government is in place until elections are held in November 2015.
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