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