MORE CRITICS TAKE AIM AT MALI'S EMBATTLED AUDITOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000195

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EIND ETRD EINT EAGR PINR ML
SUBJECT: MORE CRITICS TAKE AIM AT MALI'S EMBATTLED AUDITOR
GENERAL

REF: A. BAMAKO 00055

B. 08 BAMAKO 943

1.(SBU) Summary: The international donor community witnessed
another salvo directed at Mali's embattled Auditor General,
Sidi Sosso Diarra, on February 27 when a member of Diarra's
own staff disrupted a routine donors' meeting to publicly
lambaste his boss. Diarra has been mired in political and
legal battles since November 2008 when details of a Supreme
Court audit revealing financial irregularities within
Diarra's office were leaked to the Malian press. Although
Diarra has steadfastly refused to resign or bend to political
pressure, a public uprising of his own staff is just the
latest indication of the weakened nature of Mali's only
independent corruption fighting institution. On March 14
Oumou Toure, the President of Mali's largest women's
association, used a forum on anti-corruption and good
governance to accuse Diarra - who was sitting next to Toure
on the dais - of failing to live up to his corruption
fighting responsibilities. On March 20 Diarra used a five
minute segment with Radio France to deflect mounting
criticism, responding as he has throughout with measured
assessments of his successes and failures as Auditor General.
Although Diarra has clearly made mistakes, the real culprit
may be Mali's judiciary which has yet to prosecute any of the
offenders identified since the OAG's first report in 2007.
End Summary.

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A Staff Uprising
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2.(SBU) Auditor General Sidi Sosso Diarra's annual meeting
with Mali's international donor community took an unusual and
unexpected turn on February 27 when Diarra's own deputy,
Modibo Diallo, rose suddenly to accuse Diarra of ignoring a
December 2008 court ruling ordering him to reinstate eight
employees previously dismissed from the Office of the Auditor
General (OAG). Prior to Diallo's outburst, Diarra briefed
international donors on the OAG's achievements for 2008 and
plans for 2009. Diarra noted that the OAG completed more
than 30 auditing missions in 2008, resulting in specific
recommendations to each Ministry and government agency
audited. Diarra indicated that most of these recommendations
had already been implemented by the relevant government
institutions, and cited as an example a recommendation to the
Ministry of Education that it distribute to schools thousands
of textbooks still sitting in its warehouses. The OAG
intends to conduct 45 audits in 2009 using a slightly
modified and, according to Diarra, streamlined approach based
on lessons learned from previous OAG evaluation missions.

3.(SBU) As the collegial and generally upbeat meeting came to
a close, Deputy Auditor General Modibo Diallo, who had
hitherto been silent during the 90 minute discussion,
suddenly declared that the Auditor General's optimism had
obscured one glaring issue: Diarra's disregard for court
rulings to reinstate eight OAG employees. Diarra dismissed
these employees, who were on long-term loan to the OAG from
other government Ministries, in December 2008 ostensibly to
preserve the OAG's political independence (Ref. A). Although
Diarra claimed he was simply returning the eight individuals
to their home Ministries, the employees filed suit alleging
wrongful dismissal and demanding reinstatement.

4.(SBU) The group of eight is led by Daniel Tessougue, who
as Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, was the
number two person in the Justice Ministry prior to being
seconded to the OAG. Since the Secretary General position is
now occupied by another individual, Tessougue has no hope of
returning to his previous position. On February 5 the
Administrative Section of the Supreme Court rejected Diarra's
rational for dismissing the eight employees and ordered their
reinstatement. Diarra has yet to comply with this ruling.
This is perhaps not surprising given Diarra's strained
relationship with the Supreme Court. Diarra's current
problems were ignited by the November 2008 leak of a
supposedly confidential audit of the OAG by the Supreme
Court's accounting division (Ref. B).

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Criticism from other Quarters
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5.(SBU) On March 14 Diarra received an earful from another
somewhat unexpected critic - Oumou Toure, the president of
Coordination of Women's Associations and NGOs (CAFO). CAFO
is the umbrella organization for more than 2000 women's
groups in Mali. As such, CAFO holds a permanent seat on
Mali's fifteen member Independent National Election
Commission (CENI) and generally serves as the main advocate,

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clearinghouse, and representative for women's groups in Mali.
Although Toure's apparent status as CAFO's president for
life has raised transparency questions of its own, she
accused Diarra, who was sitting next to her as one of the
other conference participants, of falling down on the job.
"In all sincerity," said Toure, "we need to say what we think
of this institution because the corrupt and the corrupters
are unknown. We believe that the Auditor General is not
doing his job. What sectors of public life are the corrupt
coming from? None of them have been penalized. These are the
sentiments that are motivating us, Mr. Auditor General."
Diarra responded, as he normally does, with a measured
assessment of the progress of the OAG and a quick reference
to judiciary's responsibility for following up on cases of
corruption identified by the OAG.

6.(SBU) Oumou Toure's attack came amidst a prolonged media
campaign by one local newspaper in particular to publicize
Diarra's legal and administrative troubles. On March 20
Radio France (RFI) invited Diarra to respond to allegations
in the press and elsewhere that Diarra is not "Mr. Clean."
Diarra told RFI that he remained indifferent to these
charges. In response to specific allegations that he is
charging the government CFA 350,000 more than the CFA 500,000
(USD 1,000) allotted for the Auditor General's monthly
residential lease payments, Diarra said President Amadou
Toumani Toure had personally approved the increased rental
payments several years before - a revelation that seemingly
deflated at least one ethics charge but raised other
questions regarding Diarra's claims about the need to
preserve OAG independence from the presidency and other
branches of the Malian government.

7.(SBU) Diarra also noted that he received no health
benefits or security as Auditor General even though, in his
view, he encumbers one of the most "exposed" positions in the
country. At the close of the interview Diarra said his
office continued to enjoy the full support of President Toure
and reaffirmed his commitment to remain Auditor General until
the expiration of his seven year appointment in 2011.

8.(SBU) On March 4 an official with the Canadian Embassy,
which is one of the OAG's primary financial donors, told the
Embassy that President Toure had confidence in the work of
the Auditor General and noted the general adoption of OAG
recommendations regarding management deficiencies, resulting
improved government operations. Coincidentally, the
Canadians then cited the same example - the Ministry of
Education's textbooks - that Diarra provided during the
February donor meeting. When asked about evident delays - or
worse - regarding legal investigations into cases of fraud
referred by the OAG, the Canadians suggested the delay did
not signal a lack of political will to address corruption but
rather a lack of technical competence on behalf of Malian
magistrates to hear cases involving economic and financial
crimes.

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Comment: Justice and a Weakened Auditor General
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9.(SBU) The media campaign and court rulings against Diarra,
together with the apparent eagerness of individuals like CAFO
president Oumou Toure to jump on the anti-OAG bandwagon, do
not bode well for Diarra. The ultimate victim, however, may
not be Diarra but law abiding government officials and
private sector operators striving to outpace corruption's
pull. Recent allegations have clearly weakened not only
Diarra but the Office of the Auditor General, making it
easier for critics to dismiss or discredit future OAG
findings. Ironically, Diarra's image could be bolstered by
the very institution that has, since his appointment as
Auditor General, so evidently let him down: the judiciary.
Unfortunately, Malian courts appear more interested in
auditing the Auditor General than investigating the very real
corruption cases the Auditor General's reports have already
served up.
MILOVANOVIC