Abidjan, The Government Commissioner, Rear Admiral Ange Kessy Bernard, testified to the large number of complaints of scams on public competitions filed at the military court of Abidjan, for two years, during a joint press conference with the Minister for the Promotion of Good Governance, Capacity Building and the Fight against Corruption, Zoro Epiphane Ballo, in Abidjan, Friday September 17, 2021.

“This offense, for two years, is the most emergent at the level of the military court so that the racketeering begins to be trivialized”, lamented Rear Admiral Kessy. In total, 2,600 complaints have been registered in its services since January 2021. “In one day, we can receive 12 complaint files”, he added.

These complaints concern people who give money to soldiers, gendarmes, police officers to be admitted to a competition, to find a place in a competition, for a place in a company or some to have a promotion. “These are complaints that pour in, abound and overflow and are the subject of investigation,” he said.

Faced with these situations, the government commissioner says he favors amicable settlements for the time being. ”For the moment, we cannot commit to 12 complaints per day with four substitutes, who have other files to manage in these cases. (…) Often, we settle amicably by summoning those who took money to pay back, ”he said.

In this regard, Ange Kessy Bernard intends to step up the fight against corruption and racketeering. In this context, 43 cases of members of the security forces, in this case the police and gendarmes, will be tried by the military court for racketeering during the next judicial re-entry in Abidjan.

The Minister for the Promotion of Good Governance, Capacity Building and the Fight against Corruption, Zoro Epiphane Ballo reiterated the commitment of his department to dismantle all acts of corruption in public services with a strong suspicion of corruption by the conduct of verification operations known as “ Punching ”.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse