MALI'S AUDITOR GENERAL RESISTS PRESSURE TO RESIGN,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000055 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019 TAGS: PGOV KDEM KCOR ML SUBJECT: MALI'S AUDITOR GENERAL RESISTS PRESSURE TO RESIGN, OFFERS PRIZE TO PRESS CORPS REF: 08 BAMAKO 00943 Classified By: Political Officer Fred Noyes, Embassy Bamako, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 1.(SBU) Summary: At a January 17 press conference, Mali's embattled Auditor General Sidi Sosso Diarra defiantly rejected any suggestion that he should resign. Diarra has been under increasing pressure since details of a Supreme Court audit of the Auditor General's Office revealed a series of financial irregularities (Ref. A). During his press conference, the Auditor General defended his actions while seeking to address allegations of financial and personnel mismanagement. According to some reports in the Malian media, the Auditor General failed to assuage the concerns of those present, meaning that Mali's only independent anti-corruption body remains under a dark cloud. End Summary. -------------- The Auditor Strikes Back -------------- 2.(SBU) At January 17 press conference billed as an annual New Year's meeting with the local media, Auditor General Sidi Sosso Diarra admitted that 2008 had been an extraordinarily difficult year for the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). He attributed these difficulties to "internal jolts" and a "campaign of defamation" mounted against him by former OAG collaborators and the media. He then attempted to respond to allegations of financial and personnel mismanagement within the OAG. 3.(SBU) Foremost among these allegations is an apparent gap of 700 million CFA (approximately USD 1.4 million) in the finances of the OAG. The Auditor General admitted that during 2005, the OAG's budget exceeded expenses by 700 million CFA, and that technically those funds should have been returned to the Malian Treasury. Diarra justified OAG's failure to return that money on the grounds that the Treasury had failed to fully disburse OAG budgeted funds for later years, and that the money was therefore being used to fund OAG's current operations. Diarra added that the Treasury actually owes OAG as much as 2 billion CFA (approximately USD 4 million),and emphasized that at no time during a recent audit by the Supreme Court's accounting section was his use of these funds called into question. 4.(SBU) Diarra also addressed criticism of his management of OAG personnel. The controversy at issue concerns employees temporarily detailed to the OAG from other government ministries. Diarra insisted that employees recruitedfrom the public sector should, for purposes of plitical independence, receive an official leave of absence from their home ministries while assigned to the OAG. Diarra said he had received assurances that this had in fact occurred, but later learned that not all of the OAG employees had been officially seconded to the OAG as previously thought. Diarra raised this issue with the Minister of Labor and Minister of Public Administration, requesting that they formalize the leave of absence policy for their employees detailed to the OAG. Diarra also said the failure to officially detail certain employees to the OAG left these individuals in a bureaucratic limbo that jeopardized the independence of the OAG and constituted possible violations of law investing the OAG with independent authority to combat corruption. For these reasons, Diarra instructed all OAG employees in this position to return to their original government posts effective December 31. Diarra claimed that this decision proved especially controversial and sparked even more criticism from many of the transferred employees. 5.(SBU) Diarra was dismissive of those critical of his management of OAG, complaining of "perfidious attacks and rumors" and the proverbial "tempest in a teacup." Although no one, to our knowledge, has publicly called for Diarra's resignation, he said he had no intention of resigning in response to "moaning and whining." Diarra portrayed his office as the victim of a defamation campaign, and warned assembled local journalists not to mistake their presumed desire for his departure with reality. Diarra flatly rejected suggestions he might have pocketed the 700 million CFA unaccounted for in the OAG financial books, arguing that if he had wanted to embezzle funds he would not have settled for "a couple hundred million" CFA out of a budget of 3 billion CFA. -------------- New OAG Initiatives for 2009 -------------- 6.(SBU) After ridiculing accusations of corruption within Mali's primary anti-corruption institution, Diarra turned to BAMAKO 00000055 002 OF 002 more positive issues. He reported that the OAG had achieved significant gains in the battle against corruption, noting that 85 percent of OAG's recommendations in its most recent report had been implemented. He also stated that the OAG's work had allowed Mali to recover 4 billion CFA (approximately 8 million USD) in 2006 alone. 7.(SBU) The Auditor General conceded, however, that the OAG needed to adopt new approaches to combating corruption, and laid out several proposals for improving communications with the press for 2009. The most important proposal is a plan to publish a monthly informational letter to allow the media to follow the OAG's activities on a month-to-month basis, as opposed to the OAG's current set-up which provides the media with nothing more than one annual report. Diarra also pandered to his audience somewhat, announcing that the OAG would award a "Prize for Good Governance" to a journalist who battles corruption or promotes good governance in 2009. Finally, Diarra proposed as many as twelve social functions hosted by OAG during the year for the Malian press corps and selected private citizens to better explain the work and mandate of the OAG. -------------- Comment: Pandering to the Press? -------------- 8.(C) Diarra's concerns regarding a concerted attempt to weaken the OAG are not wholly unfounded, as Mali has a history of rolling out new corruption fighting institutions for international donors and then quietly undermining them several years later (Ref. A). At four years of age, the OAG has matched or exceeded the honeymoon periods enjoyed by Mali's two previous anti-corruption institutions: the Judicial Ombudsman created in 1997 but not staffed until 1999; and the Office for Administrative Controls (CASCA) which is located within the presidency and was created in 2003 as a response to a 2001 World Bank report on corruption in Mali. Diarra's explanations for recent personnel decisions appear reasonable and post-press conference Malian press reports have questioned whether there is any evidence that the alleged financial irregularities at the OAG were fraudulent in nature. However, Diarra's embrace of the local press corps, and offer to reward one of them with a good governance prize, appear to go beyond a genuine attempt to clear his name and that of his office and into the realm of co-opting the local media. MILOVANOVIC