4By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A former President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was on Tuesday, arrested on allegations bordering on abuse of power and illicit wealth acquisition, a lawyer said.
Coming ahead of his trial, Abdel Aziz, 66 had declined an invitation by the police, defence lawyer says.
According to the defence lawyer, the police “came to look for him at home” in the capital Nouakchott, armed with a warrant, he was arrested without incident.
Abdel Aziz spent his Tuesday night in custody, as his trial is expected to commence this week.
A security source says other key figures who worked in his cabinet are also facing charges of corruption, money laundering and questionable enrichment.
Abdel Aziz, an ex-general who stepped down in 2019 after two presidential terms, came into office after a military coup and spent 12 years.
He is remembered for defusing a jihadist insurgency threatening the conservative West African state.
He was succeeded by his former right-hand man, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani in the first transfer of power between elected leaders in the history of a country marked by military coups and upheaval.
In 2020, a parliamentary investigation was opened into financial dealings under Abdel Aziz’s presidency.
The probe covered; oil revenues, sales of state assets, the winding up of a public company in charge of food supplies and the activities of a Chinese fishing company.
The former president is suspected to have illicitly siphoned state resources equivalent to more than $72 million.
He has refused to answer questions about the source of his wealth but says it’s a politically motivated persecution.
