Senegal deputies debate legality of parliamentary inquiries

Debate has emerged in Senegal regarding the legality and purpose of parliamentary inquiries into specific financial dossiers. Amadou Ba, a deputy from the PASTEF party, has argued against opening parliamentary commissions of inquiry into the ASER and Kosmos Energy cases. He contends that the Constitution and the National Assembly's internal regulations formally prohibit deputies from investigating matters that are already subject to judicial or administrative proceedings.

According to Ba, the ASER case involving 37 billion FCFA is currently with the Financial Judicial Pool (PJF), while the Kosmos Energy matter involving approximately 50 billion FCFA is being investigated by the State General Inspection (IGE). He characterized calls for parliamentary inquiries as attempts to discredit lawmakers.

In response to these discussions, Babacar Ba of the Forum du Justiciable emphasized that while parliamentary commissions are vital for administrative transparency and fact-finding, they do not possess the authority to initiate criminal prosecutions. He noted that the final authority to launch legal proceedings rests with the prosecutor, suggesting that it would be more appropriate to involve the financial prosecutor or the OFNAC directly if criminal activity is suspected.