Arissa Chen '27
On December 4, 2023, Mauritania’s former president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, was sentenced to five years in prison. Aziz has been in detention since January 24, and was in prison for months in 2021. He has been on trial since January 25 with two former prime ministers and businessmen. They were all charged with "illicit enrichment", "abuse of office", "influence peddling" and "money laundering". Aziz was accused of laundering around $72 million.
In addition to the sentence, his assets acquired from illicit enrichment and money laundering were confiscated. Out of all the people accused, he had gotten the harshest sentence due to his involvement. Two of the former prime ministers weren’t charged with anything and the other two former ministers were suspended for two years and had six months of imprisonment. Aziz could appeal his sentence at the Supreme Court.
During April of the Nouakchott court, he stated that there was no proof for these charges. At the end of the trial, he exposed that Ghazouani, his successor, had given him two suitcases that had millions of euros after his election in 2019. In 2022, Mauritania was ranked 130 out of 180 in the Corruption Perceptions Index.
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