MINISTER OF ENERGY AND MINES RESIGNS AMID FRAUD

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAMAKO 000822 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV KCOR ML SUBJECT: MINISTER OF ENERGY AND MINES RESIGNS AMID FRAUD ALLEGATIONS Classified By: Political Officer Aaron Sampson, Embassy Bamako, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1.(U) Minister of Energy, Mines and Water, Ahmed Sow, resigned on September 29. News of his resignation was broadcast on national television on the evening of September 29, the eve of the national holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. A replacement Minister has not yet been named. 2.(U) Corruption allegations stemming from Sow's stewardship of an European Union financed African development project dogged Sow since the moment President Amadou Toumani Toure appointed him in October 2007. Prior to his appointment as Minister, Sow managed the EU's Center for Business Development (CDE),which was created under the Cotonou Accord to promote linkages between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific states. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) begin investigating Sow in December 2006 after a Malian company, Fitina SA, went bankrupt shortly after receiving a 3.7 million Euro loan from the European Investment Bank and 720,000 Euros in assistance from the European Commission. Sow resigned as CDE Director in May 2007 under a cloud of corruption allegations. In September 2007 OLAF sent a team to Mali to investigate development funds allocated by the CDE to Fitina and other Malian enterprises. One month later President Toure named Sow as Minister of Energy, Mines and Water. 3.(U) Sow has denied any wrong doing or improper ties to Fitina. While the Malian government cooperated with OLAF investigators, President Toure previously defended Sow, stating that the Minister would remain in place as long as the allegations remained unproven. Sow is widely regarded as the author of Mali's Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES),which forms a key component of the Malian government's ten-year strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals. As Minister of Energy and Mines, Sow oversaw approximately 70 percent of Mali's export revenues. 4.(C) Comment: On September 30 President Toure's Diplomatic Counselor, Mangal Traore, told the Embassy that increased pressure from the European Union forced Sow's resignation. Traore said Mali feared it would receive no EU money for the energy, mining and water sectors as long as Sow was Minister. Ahmed Sow's resignation seemed to be only a matter of time since the day he was appointed in October 2007. To his credit, President Toure cooperated with the OLAF investigation and then made the right decision, pressuring Sow to step down once his ability to function as Minister of Energy and Mines had been compromised. LEONARD