Former Mauritania president who illegally amassed Sh9 billion sentenced to 15 years in prison

Mauritania’s former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined Sh387 million ($3 million) for corruption-related crimes committed while in office.

Aziz was convicted in 2023 of money laundering and self-enrichment, with investigators revealing that he amassed more than Sh9 billion ($70 million) in assets during his presidency and has been in custody since the verdict was delivered.

According to AFP, Aziz, who helped lead two coups before serving two terms as president of the northwest African country, had positioned himself as a counterterrorism ally to Western nations.

The high-profile trial marked a rare case of an African head of state being held accountable for corruption.

Aziz’s legal team, however, claimed the case is politically motivated, describing it as a personal feud between the former president and his successor, Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani. 

The two were allies until Ghazouani succeeded Aziz in 2019, in Mauritania’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence.

Tensions escalated when Aziz attempted to reclaim control of a major political party post-presidency. 

In response, a parliamentary commission launched a corruption probe into Aziz and 11 others in 2020.

The ruling sparked reactions from Kenyans online, many of whom expressed hope that similar accountability would be applied to corrupt leaders in Kenya.

@rufex001 tweeted, “Have the political cousins seen this? Tutashuka nao na odious debt. They will pay dearly, the People SHALL win at the end of the day.”

@mikemalia40041 agreed, saying, “Kenyans should learn to jail corrupt politicians.”

@oprono77 added, “What is wrong with Kenya Judiciary, EACC and DCI? Those who were involved in Adani, KEMSA and other scandals should be in jail.”

Aziz’s sentencing comes just a month after a Peruvian court handed former President Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, 15-year sentences for laundering funds from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to finance his 2006 and 2011 campaigns.

Judges found that the couple received nearly Sh400 million ($3 million) in illegal campaign contributions from Odebrecht and Venezuela’s former President Hugo Chávez. 

Nadine’s brother, Ilán Heredia, was also sentenced to 12 years for his role in the scheme.