Senegal court gives ex-president's son 6 years in jail
A Senegal court has sentenced former President Abdoulaye Wade's son to six years in jail for “illicit enrichment.”
The court also fined Karim Wade the equivalent of more than USD 230 million; however, the ex-president’s son was cleared of the main corruption charge against him.
Judge Henri Gregoire Diop said court evidence showed that he had hidden money illegally amassed in offshore company accounts in the British Virgin Islands and Panama.
Karim, 46, denied the charge of illegally acquiring about USD 1.4 billion in funds in addition to a large amount of real estate while he served in various high-ranking government positions during his father's 2000-2012 presidency over the African country.
The president's son has been in detention since April 2013. He says he is innocent, claiming the case against him is politically motivated.
The court ruling comes just two days after Senegal's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Senegal, chose Karim to run as its candidate at the next presidential election. Senegal's once ruling PDS chose him at the party congress on Saturday, which was attended by Abdoulaye Wade, who is the secretary general of the party.
Last month, the 88-year-old former president said he was prepared to "give his life" to prevent the imprisonment of his son.
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