Prosecuted in Senegal for several financial crimes, the influential columnist was arrested in France, where he had fled, although he had been prevented from leaving Senegalese territory.

Nearly a month after narrowly escaping Senegalese justice, Madiambal Diagne was arrested in France on the morning of Tuesday, October 21, while he was the subject of an international arrest warrant. The information was confirmed to Jeune Afrique by one of the lawyers of the influential media boss, close to the former head of state Macky Sall .

Circumventing a ban on leaving the country that had just been verbally notified to him on the evening of September 23, as he was preparing to board an Air France flight to Paris, Madiambal Diagne was able to reach France the following day, via Gambia. An international arrest warrant was immediately issued by the Senegalese authorities.

Declared opponent of Ousmane Sonko

Known for his harsh criticism of the African Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity ( Pastef ) and in particular of their president, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, the influential columnist is the target of a judicial investigation linked to suspicions of fraud involving public funds, money laundering and criminal association.

The proceedings against him stem from a report by the National Financial Information Processing Unit (Centif) reporting suspicious transactions worth several billion CFA francs between the accounts of a real estate company (SCI) founded by Madiambal Diagne and those of the French company Ellipse Projects, which specializes in the construction of hospitals in Africa and was awarded a vast construction project in Senegal , in the areas of health and justice, under the presidency of Macky Sall.

A case in which the role attributed to the SCI Pharaon of Madiambal Diagne had earned the journalist's wife and two sons, involved in the company's activities, an indictment accompanied by a placement in custody.

According to our information, Madiambal Diagne, currently under provisional arrest, is to be brought before the Versailles public prosecutor's office. It will then be up to the judge of liberties and detention to determine whether he should be placed in provisional detention or whether he can remain free on bail pending the substantive examination of the extradition request submitted by the Senegalese courts. This request should then be examined by the Versailles Court of Appeal.