A Senegalese opposition MP close to former President Macky Sall was charged and jailed on Thursday in Dakar for "money laundering, fraud of public funds and criminal association," one of his lawyers told AFP.
Mouhamadou Ngom, known as Farba, who also serves as mayor of a town in the country's north, was jailed by a judge from a special anti-corruption unit, his lawyer Doudou Ndoye said.
Ndoye said Ngom's legal team were stunned by what they said was an unlawful procedure.
"He is being put in prison while waiting to find out what he did," said Ndoye.
Shell companies
Ngom, a trusted lieutenant of Sall, who was president from 2012 to 2024, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity on January 24 as the case against him went forward.
The prosecution alleges that investigators unveiled sophisticated money laundering mechanisms using shell companies that made suspicious transactions with an estimated value of more than 125 billion CFA francs (around 195 million euros).
Local media reports say several other people close to the Sall administration have been cited in the case.
Dozens of supporters of Ngom demonstrated on Thursday near PJF headquarters, opposite the University of Dakar, before being dispersed by police, an AFP photographer noted.
'Widespread corruption'
Allies of the detained lawmaker have, for weeks, denounced what they say is a political case.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was elected president last March, has pledged a clean break from the Sall era.
Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko promised last September to investigate what he said was "widespread corruption" under the former government, with recent months seeing several former officials charged and imprisoned.
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