THE AUDITS ARE OUT - SORT OF

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000109 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON PREL ASEC GV SUBJECT: THE AUDITS ARE OUT - SORT OF ¶1. (U) Following an alleged order from President Conte calling for the PM to release the results of ministerial audits by February 6, Acting Government Spokesperson Saidou Diallo, who is also the Minister of Economic Control, announced that the final results of the Guinean Government,s ministerial audits will be published soon and released to the general public. Although he said the audits have not yet been completed, he detailed some specific findings, including amounts of money that reportedly disappeared, problems with contracts that were paid but never executed, vehicles that were purchased for personal use, etc. Diallo reportedly did not name specific individuals, but said that those individuals guilty of embezzlement, fraud or corruption will be prosecuted and punished. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Official Government contacts have told Embassy personnel for months that the audits have been completed, with the exception of those for the Ministry of Interior and Security and for the Ministry of Finance. However, no one has been able to produce a copy of any of the reports. The PM may be reluctant to release them since they could implicate high-ranking officials that are closely associated with the president, thereby possibly heightening political tensions between the president and the PM. At the same time, the PM,s delay in releasing the audits could have been interpreted by the president to mean that the audits will reflect poorly on the consensus government. The audits were also a specific requirement of the January 27 Accords so the president may be pushing in order to demonstrate the PM,s failure to fulfill his mandate. END COMMENT. CARTER