Guardian NG
Mali’s former prime minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who was being held on suspicion of corruption, has died, his family said Monday.
He died in the early hours at a Bamako clinic surrounded by guards, a family member told AFP without giving further details.
Maiga was a close ally of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was overthrown by strongman Colonel Assimi Goita in August 2020.
He was questioned in connection with the allegedly fraudulent purchase of a presidential plane in 2014, when Maiga was serving as defence minister.
Mali’s government auditor investigated the purchase and found that officials had embezzled public money by overbilling for the plane.
Maiga had been in custody since August 2021, initially in a central Bamako detention centre, before being transferred to the clinic where he died…
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