Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BAMAKO55
2009-01-27 13:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bamako
Cable title:  

MALI'S AUDITOR GENERAL RESISTS PRESSURE TO RESIGN,

Tags:  PGOV KDEM KCOR ML 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5963
RR RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0055/01 0271351
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 271351Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9949
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
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).
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