Beitrag vom 29.06.2023

The Africa Report

MONEY BAGS

Mali: Ex-minister Lamine Seydou Traoré arrived in Paris with ‘tens of thousands of euros’

By Benjamin Roger

Former Malian Mines Minister Lamine Seydou Traoré, brother-in-law of Defence Minister Sadio Camara, drew the attention of customs officials upon his arrival at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport for carrying a large amount of cash, according to our sources.

It dates back to the evening of 12 June when Traoré boarded an Air France flight to Paris from Bamako airport in the business class.

The once influential minister, who was forced to tender his resignation on 31 May, according to some sources, was then supposed to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Stay in Paris

On the morning of 13 June, his Air France flight landed on the tarmac of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport. Upon exiting the aircraft, he was unexpectedly checked by French customs officers, to whom he indicated that he was carrying, according to a French source, a “significant sum of cash of several tens of thousands of euros”.

Having made a voluntary declaration, Traoré was able to leave the premises.

Brother-in-law of Sadio Camara, Malian Minister of Defence and architect of Wagner’s arrival in Mali, Traoré was a major player in the establishment of the Russian paramilitary group.

(incomplete version)