Death of Mamadou Moustapha Ba: Why the Attorney General ordered the opening of an investigation

The death of Mamadou Moustapha Ba, former Senegalese Minister of Economy, Finance and Budget, raises many questions which led the prosecutor general of the Dakar high court to open an investigation to determine the causes.

This decision by the Prosecutor's Office follows information received by the Senegalese authorities containing elements which require a more in-depth examination in order to clarify the circumstances of his death, which occurred recently in France.

The sudden death as well as the events surrounding the repatriation of the body and the investigation by the authorities aroused public interest and questions about the circumstances of the death of Macky Sall's very last Minister of Economy and Finance.

Mamadou Moustapha Ba was an eminent figure in the Senegalese administration.

His unexpected death triggered a wave of sadness in the political landscape, among his former colleagues and among the general public, as evidenced by the shower of tributes which flooded social networks upon the announcement of his death.

The decision to carry out an autopsy also underlines the desire of the Senegalese authorities to shed light on the circumstances of his death.

While the family was preparing to organize the funeral of the former Minister of Finance and Budget, two press releases from the public prosecutor published on Saturday November 9 and Sunday November 10 ended up calling everything into question.

In the first press release published on Saturday November 9, the prosecution announced the opening of an investigation to elucidate the circumstances of the death of the former minister which occurred last week in France.

“The Public Prosecutor at the High Court of Dakar has been informed of the death in France of Mr. Mamadou Moustapha Ba, former Minister of Finance and Budget. The information received on the circumstances of the death includes elements which justify that efforts be carried out to determine the causes of death. In accordance with the provisions of article 66 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, an investigation to investigate the causes of death was opened and, for this purpose, an autopsy was ordered,” we can read in this text signed by the prosecutor of the Republic of Dakar, Ousmane Ndoye.

The former minister was recently accused by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko of alleged manipulation of Senegal's economic data.

“The Macky Sall regime lied to the people, lied to partners, fiddled with the figures to give an economic and financial image, which has nothing to do with reality. Responsibilities must be located,” he said during a press conference.

Former finance ministers Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo and Mamadou Moustapha Ba, former prime minister Amadou Ba and former president Macky Sall, “who could not ignore these practices, will have to explain to the Senegalese why and how they were able to plunge the country into this situation,” he added.

In a long letter in the form of an assessment and campaign program published in all media and on social networks, Macky Sall claims to have left a country in good working order, with “a positive growth rate”.

“Denial, populism, untruths, sterile speech and manipulation take the place of a mode of governance,” he added, addressing the new authorities.

The current government said it found public accounts in a “catastrophic” state when it commissioned an audit.

Macky Sall speaks of “slanderous” assertions which pushed two evaluation agencies to unfavorably review Senegal's sovereign rating or outlook.

In a public note, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognized at the end of a mission that one of its teams carried out in Senegal from October 9 to 16, that: “The preliminary conclusions indicate substantial revisions of the data of budget execution for the period 2019-2023. These revisions are mainly attributable to investments financed by external borrowings and loans taken out from local banks. As a result, the budget deficit and public debt for this period are now estimated to be significantly higher than the figures previously reported in the finance and settlement laws,” indicated IMF mission head Edward Gemayel.

Mamadou Moustapha Ba succumbed to an illness which left him in a coma for several days, according to the local press.

The gray areas linked to his sudden death gave rise to the start of controversies within his biological family, particularly over the place of his burial.

Some members of his family have also called for an investigation to be opened, describing his death as “mysterious”.

The results of the autopsy ordered following the death of the former Minister of Finance and Budget revealed several elements likely to certify that the death was not natural, according to the public prosecutor at the High Court out of class in Dakar.

For the purposes of investigations which require additional investigative acts, insists the prosecutor, the formalities linked to the procedure of lifting the body and burial are postponed to a later date.

The autopsy ordered by the public prosecutor aims to provide clear answers on the factors which may have led to the sudden death of Mamadou Moustapha Ba, by allowing medical experts to identify, as far as possible, the medical or accidental events linked to this unexpected event.

Scheduled for Saturday, the lifting of the body of the former minister did not take place following the decision of the public prosecutor to carry out an autopsy, against the approval of the family.

“There is no complaint from the family so that the prosecutor can take up the case, no one has filed a complaint. There is no crime. Why then should we prevent, block the burial of Mamadou Moustapha Ba today? Today the whole family is worried, outraged, shocked, because we think that Mamadou Moustapha Ba does not deserve this treatment. This is why we ask the authorities, in particular the Public Prosecutor, to allow the immediate burial of Mamadou Moustapha Ba, this senior state official, this man of exceptional stature does not deserve this treatment.” declared Me El Hadji Diouf.

This position of the family arises from the fact that according to several online media, the type of death certificate established in France concluded that it was a “natural death”, after several days of coma.

Contrary to the family's version, the public prosecutor seems to favor the trail of a suspicious death and has ordered additional investigations,

to determine the causes of death, in accordance with article 66 of the code of criminal procedure, which governs investigations into suspicious or unexplained deaths.

“The formalities related to the procedure for lifting the body and burial are postponed to a later date,” according to the prosecution.

Born on August 6, 1965 in Nioro (Center), Mamadou Moustapha Ba is a Senegalese politician and senior civil servant who has climbed all the ranks within the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

A graduate of the National School of Applied Economics of Dakar in 1991, Mr. Ba also holds a diploma in development policy and a Master in management and public administration at the Institute of Development Policy and Management of the University of Antwerp in Belgium in 1999.

His administrative career at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance began in 1992. Mr. Ba held the position of program manager at the Directorate of Economic and Financial Cooperation (Dcef) until 2000.

Between 2001 and 2006, he was head of the primary office of the DCEF. In 2007, he became deputy director of economic and financial cooperation, before taking the helm of this department from May 2012 to October 2014.

Under the presidency of Macky Sall, he served as Director General of the Budget from 2014 to his appointment as Minister of Finance and Budget of Senegal on September 17, 2022 in the government of Amadou Ba, replacing Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo, former Minister of Finance and Budget and former President of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.

He will hold this position until the change of regime that occurs after the election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye as head of the country in March 2024.