Khadim Ba spent the night yesterday at the Fair gendarmerie brigade. Shortly before, the businessman was interviewed by Customs and then placed in police custody for customs offenses relating to foreign exchange regulations. Customs is therefore demanding the tidy sum of 215 billion FCFA, according to information from Libération. An offense that Khadim Ba contests, because according to his advice, the investigation concerns the company Dermond oil & gas Africa. However, they say, Khadim Ba “is neither the legal representative of the company Dermond Oil & Gas Africa, nor its general director or its chairman of the board of directors”.
More decisively, indicate the lawyers, “Mr. Khadim Ba, on the one hand, is not an importer of petroleum products” and “in this case, it is the African Refining Company known as Sar the importer and legally in the customs cordon, on the other hand, it is totally unrelated to any customs offense relating to exchange regulations.
Khadim Ba was summoned for the first time on September 19, 2024 and a second time on September 24, 2024 before being picked up yesterday, around noon. His lawyers claim that the procedure is null and void, because, according to them, Khadim Ba requested in vain to be assisted by his counsel. “Mr. Khadim Ba suffered all these violations so, above all, that he has nothing to reproach himself for, but also and above all, that no community, legal or regulatory provision imposes on him an obligation to repatriate foreign currencies ”, according to the lawyers.
By signing the Customs report, Khadim Ba indicated: “My right to be assisted by my lawyers was violated as well as my right to organize my defense. » I contest all the offenses and the conduct of this investigation. I have the fundamental right to organize my defense against your accusations, he wrote.
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