VZCZCXRO3882
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0195/01 0891320
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301320Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0183
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000195 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EIND ETRD EINT EAGR PINR ML
SUBJECT: MORE CRITICS TAKE AIM AT MALI'S EMBATTLED AUDITOR 
GENERAL 
 
REF: A. BAMAKO 00055 
     ¶B. 08 BAMAKO 943 
 
1.(SBU) Summary:  The international donor community witnessed 
another salvo directed at Mali's embattled Auditor General, 
Sidi Sosso Diarra, on February 27 when a member of Diarra's 
own staff disrupted a routine donors' meeting to publicly 
lambaste his boss.  Diarra has been mired in political and 
legal battles since November 2008 when details of a Supreme 
Court audit revealing financial irregularities within 
Diarra's office were leaked to the Malian press.  Although 
Diarra has steadfastly refused to resign or bend to political 
pressure, a public uprising of his own staff is just the 
latest indication of the weakened nature of Mali's only 
independent corruption fighting institution.  On March 14 
Oumou Toure, the President of Mali's largest women's 
association, used a forum on anti-corruption and good 
governance to accuse Diarra - who was sitting next to Toure 
on the dais - of failing to live up to his corruption 
fighting responsibilities.  On March 20 Diarra used a five 
minute segment with Radio France to deflect mounting 
criticism, responding as he has throughout with measured 
assessments of his successes and failures as Auditor General. 
 Although Diarra has clearly made mistakes, the real culprit 
may be Mali's judiciary which has yet to prosecute any of the 
offenders identified since the OAG's first report in 2007. 
End Summary. 
 
---------------- 
A Staff Uprising 
---------------- 
 
2.(SBU)  Auditor General Sidi Sosso Diarra's annual meeting 
with Mali's international donor community took an unusual and 
unexpected turn on February 27 when Diarra's own deputy, 
Modibo Diallo, rose suddenly to accuse Diarra of ignoring a 
December 2008 court ruling ordering him to reinstate eight 
employees previously dismissed from the Office of the Auditor 
General (OAG).  Prior to Diallo's outburst, Diarra briefed 
international donors on the OAG's achievements for 2008 and 
plans for 2009.  Diarra noted that the OAG completed more 
than 30 auditing missions in 2008, resulting in specific 
recommendations to each Ministry and government agency 
audited.  Diarra indicated that most of these recommendations 
had already been implemented by the relevant government 
institutions, and cited as an example a recommendation to the 
Ministry of Education that it distribute to schools thousands 
of textbooks still sitting in its warehouses.  The OAG 
intends to conduct 45 audits in 2009 using a slightly 
modified and, according to Diarra, streamlined approach based 
on lessons learned from previous OAG evaluation missions. 
 
3.(SBU) As the collegial and generally upbeat meeting came to 
a close, Deputy Auditor General Modibo Diallo, who had 
hitherto been silent during the 90 minute discussion, 
suddenly declared that the Auditor General's optimism had 
obscured one glaring issue: Diarra's disregard for court 
rulings to reinstate eight OAG employees.  Diarra dismissed 
these employees, who were on long-term loan to the OAG from 
other government Ministries, in December 2008 ostensibly to 
preserve the OAG's political independence (Ref. A).  Although 
Diarra claimed he was simply returning the eight individuals 
to their home Ministries, the employees filed suit alleging 
wrongful dismissal and demanding reinstatement. 
 
4.(SBU)  The group of eight is led by Daniel Tessougue, who 
as Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice, was the 
number two person in the Justice Ministry prior to being 
seconded to the OAG.  Since the Secretary General position is 
now occupied by another individual, Tessougue has no hope of 
returning to his previous position.  On February 5 the 
Administrative Section of the Supreme Court rejected Diarra's 
rational for dismissing the eight employees and ordered their 
reinstatement.  Diarra has yet to comply with this ruling. 
This is perhaps not surprising given Diarra's strained 
relationship with the Supreme Court.  Diarra's current 
problems were ignited by the November 2008 leak of a 
supposedly confidential audit of the OAG by the Supreme 
Court's accounting division (Ref. B). 
 
----------------------------- 
Criticism from other Quarters 
----------------------------- 
 
5.(SBU)  On March 14 Diarra received an earful from another 
somewhat unexpected critic - Oumou Toure, the president of 
Coordination of Women's Associations and NGOs (CAFO).  CAFO 
is the umbrella organization for more than 2000 women's 
groups in Mali.  As such, CAFO holds a permanent seat on 
Mali's fifteen member Independent National Election 
Commission (CENI) and generally serves as the main advocate, 
 
BAMAKO 00000195  002 OF 002 
 
 
clearinghouse, and representative for women's groups in Mali. 
 Although Toure's apparent status as CAFO's president for 
life has raised transparency questions of its own, she 
accused Diarra, who was sitting next to her as one of the 
other conference participants, of falling down on the job. 
"In all sincerity," said Toure, "we need to say what we think 
of this institution because the corrupt and the corrupters 
are unknown.  We believe that the Auditor General is not 
doing his job.  What sectors of public life are the corrupt 
coming from? None of them have been penalized. These are the 
sentiments that are motivating us, Mr. Auditor General." 
Diarra responded, as he normally does, with a measured 
assessment of the progress of the OAG and a quick reference 
to judiciary's responsibility for following up on cases of 
corruption identified by the OAG. 
 
6.(SBU)  Oumou Toure's attack came amidst a prolonged media 
campaign by one local newspaper in particular to publicize 
Diarra's legal and administrative troubles.  On March 20 
Radio France (RFI) invited Diarra to respond to allegations 
in the press and elsewhere that Diarra is not "Mr. Clean." 
Diarra told RFI that he remained indifferent to these 
charges.  In response to specific allegations that he is 
charging the government CFA 350,000 more than the CFA 500,000 
(USD 1,000) allotted for the Auditor General's monthly 
residential lease payments, Diarra said President Amadou 
Toumani Toure had personally approved the increased rental 
payments several years before - a revelation that seemingly 
deflated at least one ethics charge but raised other 
questions regarding Diarra's claims about the need to 
preserve OAG independence from the presidency and other 
branches of the Malian government. 
 
7.(SBU)  Diarra also noted that he received no health 
benefits or security as Auditor General even though, in his 
view, he encumbers one of the most "exposed" positions in the 
country.  At the close of the interview Diarra said his 
office continued to enjoy the full support of President Toure 
and reaffirmed his commitment to remain Auditor General until 
the expiration of his seven year appointment in 2011. 
 
8.(SBU)  On March 4 an official with the Canadian Embassy, 
which is one of the OAG's primary financial donors, told the 
Embassy that President Toure had confidence in the work of 
the Auditor General and noted the general adoption of OAG 
recommendations regarding management deficiencies, resulting 
improved government operations.  Coincidentally, the 
Canadians then cited the same example - the Ministry of 
Education's textbooks - that Diarra provided during the 
February donor meeting.  When asked about evident delays - or 
worse - regarding legal investigations into cases of fraud 
referred by the OAG, the Canadians suggested the delay did 
not signal a lack of political will to address corruption but 
rather a lack of technical competence on behalf of Malian 
magistrates to hear cases involving economic and financial 
crimes. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Comment: Justice and a Weakened Auditor General 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
9.(SBU)  The media campaign and court rulings against Diarra, 
together with the apparent eagerness of individuals like CAFO 
president Oumou Toure to jump on the anti-OAG bandwagon, do 
not bode well for Diarra.  The ultimate victim, however, may 
not be Diarra but law abiding government officials and 
private sector operators striving to outpace corruption's 
pull.  Recent allegations have clearly weakened not only 
Diarra but the Office of the Auditor General, making it 
easier for critics to dismiss or discredit future OAG 
findings.  Ironically, Diarra's image could be bolstered by 
the very institution that has, since his appointment as 
Auditor General, so evidently let him down: the judiciary. 
Unfortunately, Malian courts appear more interested in 
auditing the Auditor General than investigating the very real 
corruption cases the Auditor General's reports have already 
served up. 
MILOVANOVIC