© IRC
Former President Ange-Felix Patasse.
Émission d’un mandat d’arrêt contre l’ex-président Ange-Félix Patassé
Bangui, Nations Unies(IRIN),
1er septembre 2003 - Radio Centrafrique a annoncé lundi que le procureur de
l’État de Bangui, Firmin Feindiro, avait lancé un mandat d’arrêt international
contre M. Patassé, qui vit en exil au Togo. Lors d’un point de presse, Me
Feindiro a expliqué que ce mandat d’arrêt résultait du travail d’une commission
judiciaire conjointe mise en place le 1er août pour enquêter sur la corruption
et les détournements de fonds qui auraient été commis sous l’administration de
M. Patassé.
Ce mandat d’arrêt contre M. Patassé survient quelques jours seulement après
l’arrestation de son ex-ministre d’État à la communication, Gabriel Koyambounou,
pour sa présumée implication dans un scandale de détournement de fonds. M.
Koyambounou est également vice-président du parti politique de M. Patassé, le
Mouvement de libération du peuple centrafricain.
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Former President Ange-Felix Patasse. |
BANGUI, 26 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The
state prosecutor of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR),
has issued an international warrant for the arrest of former President
Ange-Felix Patasse, now in exile in Togo, state-controlled Radio Centrafrique
reported on Monday.
Speaking during a news conference, prosecutor Firmin Feindiro said the warrant
resulted from the work of a joint judicial commission set up on 1 August to
investigate embezzlement and corruption under Patasse's administration.
Overthrown by Francois Bozize on 15 March after a six-month rebellion, Patasse
spent 10 years in power. His administration failed to pay salaries for at least
30 months, which the new administration blames on embezzlement and corruption.
Patasse was believed to own timber, oil and diamond firms, which had all been
suspended for suspicious financial dealings.
The warrant for Patasse comes only days after his former minister of state of
communications, Gabriel Koyambounou, was arrested for his alleged involvement in
an embezzlement scandal. Koyambounou is also a vice-chairman of Patasse's
political party, the Mouvement de Liberation du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC).
The report also comes about two weeks after the National Transitional Council,
the country's law advisory body, voted against Patasse's participation in
national political reconciliation talks scheduled for 10-25 September. The
council justified its decision saying that Patasse had to answer for alleged
human rights violations before the International Criminal Court, where a
French-based rights body, the Federation Internationale des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH),
has already filed a complaint.
Another MLPC vice-chairman, Hugues Dobozendi, told IRIN on 17 August that most
of the bank accounts of former ministers that had been frozen in April pending
investigation had since been unblocked.