B. 06 BAMAKO 01113
C. BAMAKO 00122
D. 06 BAMAKO 00665

Classified By: Political officer Aaron Sampson for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

1.(C) Summary: On February 7 the Presidency’s Office of Administrative Controls (CASCA) released its annual report on the use of government funds. The 178 page report reveals sweeping administrative and fiscal irregularities at every level of the GOM – from Ministries down to distant municipal officials. CASCA referred 48 of the 159 cases it audited to the GOM’s public prosecutor for legal proceedings, including that of likely presidential candidate Tiebile Drame. On February 13, Drame and his Party for National Renewal (PARENA) called for the CASCA’s dissolution and accused it of advancing the political vendettas of President Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT). The GOM’s willingness to investigate and release instances of government corruption – whether through the CASCA or the independent Auditor General’s office – is welcome, but none of the CASCA’s previous reports have produced any corruption convictions. There is no indication that this year’s report will be taken any more seriously. This is small consolation for Drame, however, as the CASCA’s allegations will likely dog his entire presidential campaign – a fact undoubtedly not lost on ATT. End Summary.

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Corruption, Corruption and More Corruption
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2.(U) On February 7 the Office of Administrative Controls (CASCA), which falls within the office of the Presidency, issued its annual report on government corruption. ATT created the CASCA in 2003 to investigate cases of corruption within the GOM after a 2001 World Bank report noted that Mali’s so-called “Fight Against Corruption” had yet to produce any major corruption investigations. Although the CASCA began issuing reports in 2003, its findings have yielded no corruption convictions. This detail has not, however, dissuaded the CASCA from its mission of uncovering government fraud, waste and abuse.

3.(U) The CASCA’s 2005/2006 report reveals fiscal hijinks in 59 different offices that received government funds. The report does not say whether the CASCA investigated offices other than those cited for administrative irregularities. Major incidents included:

– the Malian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIM). The CASCA cited 34 irregularities at the CCIM, including 2 million USD in payments to unidentified “beneficiaries” and several hundred thousand dollars worth of payments, without bills or written receipts, to unknown companies, individuals and landlords. The CASCA forwarded the case of the CCIM, which is in the midst of a bitter and drawn-out battle over botched elections for the CCIM presidency (ref A), to the public prosecutor.

– the Ministry of State Lands for inability to justify nearly 2 million USD in litigation fees used to defend the GOM against an unidentified group of hotel owners, to recover an unspecified gift from Japan, and to defend the government against an anonymous business.

– the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) for USD 230,000 in unjustified advances and USD 120,000 worth of unjustified perdiem to MFA personnel.

– the Reinsertion program for former Tuareg combatants (CAR-NORD). CASCA discovered that CAR-NORD recovered only 12 percent of the 2.6 million USD spent on micro-finance projects for 9,088 former combatants from 2001 to 2005. The repayment rate for larger projects totaling 2 million USD was under 3 percent. In addition, CAR-NORD officials were unable to provide documentation to justify USD 400,000 spent on “meetings” and issued what amounts to roughly 35 gallons of fuel per day, from 2001 to 2005, to one vehicle belonging to the president of Mali’s National Re-insertion Commission.

– the Malian Embassy in Berlin for an inability to account for several hundred thousand dollars worth of expenditures and missing receipts. CASCA referred this case to the judiciary.

– the Ministry of Agriculture for misuse of funds intended to combat the 2004 invasion of locusts. The CASCA reported that, in one instance, the Agriculture Ministry paid 3.2 million USD for pesticides but received only one order valued at 1.6 million USD. This case was referred to the judiciary.

BAMAKO 00000170 002 OF 002

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Drame and France-Africa-Gate
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4.(U) The most politically explosive section of the CASCA’s report dealt with former Foreign Minister and likely presidential candidate Tiebile Drame’s stewardship of the 2005 France-Africa Summit in Bamako. When the Summit ended in December 2005, the GOM, France and other international partners hailed Drame’s efforts as a resounding success. Nine months later, Drame found himself facing allegations of misuse of government funds. Drame and his supporters argued that the allegations were concocted by ATT to weaken a
potential presidential rival. To substantiate this claim, Drame produced two competing reports by the GOM evaluating his management of the Summit. The first report lauded his efforts. In the second report, positive references to Drame’s management were replaced with accusations of fraud and wrongdoing (refs B and C).

5.(U) Although the CASCA’s audit of Drame and the France-Africa Summit produced nothing new, it marked the first official attempt by an office within the Presidency to cast Drame as corrupt. The CASCA accused Drame of leaving in his wake approximately 1.2 million USD in unauthorized expenditures, 700,000 USD worth of unjustified payments, more than 4 million USD in unpaid bills and roughly 70,000 USD in missing office equipment. On February 13 PARENA issued a highly compelling point-by-point rebuttal in Drame’s defense,
noting that other entities within the GOM were responsible for the expenditures and bills cited by the CASCA. “The practices of the CASCA,” said a PARENA spokesperson, “recall sinister memories of the political police and constitute a form of political blackmail and humiliation.” PARENA concluded its statement with a call for the CASCA’s dissolution and increased support for the independent Auditor General’s office.
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Comment: Presidential Politics and Dirty Tricks
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6.(C) CASCA’s willingness to publicly release a sweeping indictment of government fiscal and administrative accountability is encouraging, but CASCA’s status as an office within the Presidency raises serious questions about its political independence. None of the 159 cases included in the 2005/2006 report focused on the Presidency. The absence of any convictions from previous CASCA findings fuels suspicion that the CASCA’s annual reports are more exercises in political score-settling than serious corruption busting. The allegations against Tiebile Drame would have carried much more weight had they emanated from the office of the Auditor General (ref D). Given the CASCA’s ties to the Presidency, the existence of dueling reports on Drame’s oversight of the Summit, and the apparent flimsiness of the allegations against him, the current scandal appears to be pay-back for Drame’s refusal to endorse ATT and a broadside from the GOM intended to hobble Drame’s presidential campaign.

McCulley

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