One owes FCfa 138 billion and the other FCfa 5 million. Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall were embroiled in a tax-legal debate after their rehabilitation by the National Assembly by modifying the electoral law. To participate in the Presidential, will they have the tax clearance knowing that they must each pay a fine? An attempt to answer.

The National Assembly amended the electoral law with article L28 of the Electoral Code. This will at the same time put Khalifa Ababacar Sall and Karim Meïssa Wade back in the race for the Presidential of 2024. But for some purists, Khalifa Ababacar Sall and Karim Meïssa Wade have not yet left the inn. Indeed, in some circles, it is said that the former mayor of Dakar and Wade-son will be rejected for the good and simple reason that they cannot have a tax clearance, one of the elements of the application file. Because they have not yet paid the fines imposed on them during their respective trials. What does the law say in such a situation? The amendment to the electoral law stipulates the following: « For persons benefiting from a measure of grace, registration on the electoral lists can only take place after the expiry of the period corresponding to the duration of the sentence pronounced by the court of judgment if it is a prison sentence, or for a period of three (3) years from the date of the pardon if it is a sentence of a fine. » Based on this observation, there is nothing that can hinder the participation of Khalifa and Karim. 

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Indeed, the former mayor of Dakar, lured before the bar for « embezzlement of public funds and money laundering », was sentenced to 5 years in prison and to pay a fine of 5 million CFA francs. He was eventually found guilty of « forgery and use of forgery in public writing » and « fraud relating to public funds ». In the same trial, Khalifa Sall seized the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which proved him right. The court found that Khalifa Sall did not have access, as required by Senegalese law, to a lawyer from the start of the legal proceedings and that the right to the presumption of innocence was not respected either.  More seriously, the Court esteemed that the trial was therefore not fair.

Another point, Khalifa Sall was elected deputy in August 2017, the results officially announced on the 14th. The ECOWAS Court of Justice considers that between this date and November 25, 2017, the detention of Khalifa Sall was arbitrary. The State is therefore ordered to pay 35 million CFA francs to Khalifa Sall.  

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For Karim Wade, sentenced for illicit enrichment, he owes the State of Senegal 138 billion CFA francs. In addition, for Wade-son, the decree n°2016-880 of June 24, 2016 granting him the presidential pardon affirms this: “The pardon thus granted only dispenses with the execution of the prison sentences still to be suffered.” Unlike Khalifa Sall whose pardon decree n°2019 -1589 dated September 29, 2019 provides that « a remission of the main sentences is granted to the final convicts whose names follow: 1. Khalifa Ababacar Sall… ». Thus, Karim having already observed the 5 years recommended by article L30 of the Electoral Code, can present himself without worry to obtain the tax clearance, just like Khalifa Sall.

By Malick GAYE / mgaye@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH