Regarding this procedure planned against Farba Ngom, he does not have any prior, contradictory and verified information on the allegations of the prosecution.
We must, all the same, admit that in a state of law and democracy, such an approach is simply unacceptable and is contrary to the loyalty which governs the criminal procedure.
Criminal procedure abhors stratagems, sleight of hand and malice. It is based on prior information of the facts with which the accused is accused, on the presumption of innocence and on respect for the rights of the defense, one of the essential rights to a fair trial and capable of ensuring, for the person suspected or accused, the guarantee against arbitrariness.
Unfortunately, the transgressions of the right of defense which have punctuated this procedure initiated against Farba, denounced by his lawyers, in themselves undermine the credibility of the procedural approach.
The first transgression in this matter is the intrusion of the executive into the judiciary: this procedure follows an order from Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. As proof, it is the prosecutor of the Financial Prosecutor’s Office at the Ministry of Justice, who requests the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of MP Farba Ngom.
The second transgression relates to the violent searches carried out at the orchard of Mr. Farba Ngom, in Diamniadio, which were the subject of a bailiff’s report; who was behind this search, when no investigating judge has been contacted to date, especially since according to the prosecution, the CENTIF reports were only transmitted to the prosecution in December 2024? What judicial or police authority gave the instruction to carry out these illegal searches? Why since then has no judicial authority taken responsibility for settling this crime?
This manifest illegality, the objective of which was to act by surprise to pre-assemble evidence against Farba Ngom, is another serious transgression.
It does not obey any rule of loyalty, honor and above all, probity of the criminal procedure which must put at the heart of its action, respect for the rights of the individual and, above all, preserve the dignity of justice in his everyday approach.
These clumsy steps attest to the innocence of Farba Ngom, who is only accused, essentially, of his membership in an opposition party, of which he is one of the illustrious members.
Farba did not commit any tort except reaching the Matam region; This is his only crime of lèse-majesté!
Farba Ngom has never managed public funds or funds;
Farba Ngom has never obtained or concluded public contracts!
He has never received any funds from the State of Senegal!
He was never heard by the police, even less by the CENTIF.
No information was communicated to him regarding the facts with which he is accused.
It could not be otherwise because there is no criminal offense committed by Farba Ngom.
This is procedural relentlessness accompanied by an attempt at financial, land and tax asphyxiation and above all, tax strangulation, due to tax investigations initiated cumulatively with criminal proceedings.
Indeed, at the moment, Farba Ngom’s three (03) companies, namely SCI Haba, SCP Sucre and SCP Tidiania, are the subject of a tax investigation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We all welcomed and supported the reform of the CREI, the major criticism of which concerned the violation of the presumption of innocence and the reversal of the burden of proof.
The reform of August 2, 2023, modifying the code of criminal procedure and establishing the Judicial Pool specialized in the repression of economic or financial crimes and offenses, called Financial Judicial Pool, abbreviated “PJF”.
However, the establishment of the Financial Judicial Pool should not be another reform; a reform for nothing! a reform at the end of which the rights of the defense will continue to be sacrificed to the great detriment of the credibility of the judicial institution.
We must all try to preserve this judicial institution by barring the way, mainly, to the orders of the executive, to its vicious intrusions and by ensuring scrupulous respect for the texts in force in the cult of dignity and loyalty, without which there is no viable justice system.
-To do this, we must put accountability procedures above and far away from score-settling.
Justice cannot and must not agree to be an institution for settling scores.
We want free, independent and impartial justice, but not an instrument of revenge “disguised as justice”.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In view of the above observations, it seems obvious to us that the National Assembly should purely and simply reject the request for lifting parliamentary immunity, which is neither serious nor sincere.
The National Assembly was only contacted by a simple letter from the financial prosecutor’s office. No serious facts have been articulated, except allegations, assertions, unsupported statements.
No document capable of founding the conviction of the National Assembly has been produced in support of the request for lifting of the parliamentary immunity of MP Farba Ngom.
However, even if the National Assembly is not a body that must judge the merits of grievances articulated against a deputy, as the second institution of the Republic, it must be able to be able, objectively , appreciate the character “ serious, loyal and sincere of the request ».
This is a request without ” political ulterior motive “. The objective conditions for lifting parliamentary immunity are in no way met.
This is why the National Assembly and the deputies of Senegal must avoid trampling on their own status and above all, weakening their protection which aims to preserve one of the most important principles of parliamentary life: the inviolability of their mandate.
The announced rupture Assembly is concretely facing its responsibilities as an institution which owes protection to its members.
A disruptive assembly is, first of all, an assembly which is respected and which ensures that the rights of its members are respected.
No serious facts have been articulated in support of the request to lift Farba’s parliamentary immunity.
This request must therefore be rejected.
In any case, the TWS coalition and its parliamentary group intend to contact, without delay, the Inter-Parliamentary Union “IPU”, the World Organization of National Parliaments, through its Human Rights Committee, to denounce the serious violations of the rights of MP Farba Ngom, in particular the manifest absence of a fair and equitable adversarial procedure consistent with the principles of loyalty and equity that should govern any procedure for lifting the immunity of a MP.
The parliaments of ECOWAS and La Francophonie will also be informed of these violations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We thank you for your kind attention.
