The Korag spokesperson, in a statement read yesterday on national television, made revelations about embezzlement in the privatization file, in 2001, of the Société de construction et de gestion gestion du Burkina (SOCOGIB) including the Real estate assets were estimated at 3,208 plots with more than half of the plots already built.
Committed to an irreversible dynamic of the fight against terrorism, money laundering, bad governance, corruption and all similar facts, the authorities of the Transition discover, over time, serious facts of financial embezzlement and economic crimes following denunciations from citizens.
Following the serious revelations made on Monday, November 4, 2024 by His Excellency Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of Faso, Head of State relating to the misappropriation of public funds and illicit enrichment relating to assets estimated at more than 3 billion of CFA francs, we discovered other cases of abuse of power leading to a loss of financial resources estimated at several billion CFA francs, from 2001 to 2022.
Indeed, taking advantage of their position at the top of the State, Burkinabè driven by limitless greed, contempt for their neighbors and devoid of social conscience and human sensitivity, obsessed with power, have abused the rules good governance and virtuous management of public goods.
This dark picture of the history of our country exposes privatization operations that resembled dispossession where the hopes of harmonious development were betrayed by voracious and unscrupulous private interests.
In this discussion, we will discuss the file relating to the privatization, in 2001, of SOCOGIB (Burkina Real Estate Construction and Management Company) whose real estate assets were estimated at 3,208 plots with more than half of the plots already built. .
The company AZIMMO, beneficiary of this privatization, instead of transparent management of the national land assets transferred, launched into an endless cycle of sales, acquisitions and mortgages of land and plots under the cover and with the complicity of the political authorities of the time.
The bitter observation in the SOCOGIB privatization process reveals that the payment consisted, for AZIMMO, of reselling the elements of the assets of the company subject to privatization. These are four buildings located between the Saint Exupéry high school and the German embassy for an amount of 1,700,000,000 FCFA which was then used to pay the related financial compensation which amounted to 1,793,617,464 FCFA. This mechanism raises the question of the creditor paying himself and makes it clear that the privatization of SOCOGIB by the Burkinabè State looked more like a gift from the Burkinabè State to Mrs. Alizeta Ouédraogo known as Gando, president of the Board of Directors of the AZIMMO company to the extent that the State has emerged impoverished.
In addition to this sale carried out by the buyer of SOCOGIB, other important and illicit sales were made just after the privatization agreement. And, in total, the amount of plot sales made immediately after the privatization of SOCOGIB amounts to the incredible sum of 7,100,000,000 FCFA collected in less than 5 years.
Indeed, as soon as the privatization agreement was concluded, the buyers hastily disposed of almost all of SOCOGIB’s assets by engaging in hasty transactions which raise questions as to the true intention behind the privatization, throwing at the same time, a big doubt about the transparency and ethics of these operations.
The acquisitions resembling massive land grabbing by the companies AZIMMO and SOCOGIB, now the property of Madame Alizèta Ouedraogo known as Gando, and her sons and daughters, concerned, among others:
– 183.47 hectares and 153.51 hectares in the Balkuy district allocated in 2003 to AZIMMO and SOCOGIB respectively, both companies belonging to the same family;
– 437 hectares still in Balkuy, part of which with a financial value of 8,311,892,480 FCFA was sold in 2006;
– 900 hectares in Nioko II in 2003;
– 1,001.12 hectares in the Yagma zone in 2007;
– 133 plots covering an area of 65,610 m² in the Ouaga 2000 district, with an estimated value of 2,296,595,000 F CFA, granted to Mrs. Alizeta Ouédraogo represented by her son Mahamadou Ouédraogo.
From 2017 to 2022, the sale of plots carried out by SOCOGIB amounts to the extraordinary amount of 24,000,000,000 FCFA or 8,000,000,000 FCFA for the Balkuy zone and 16,000,000,000 FCFA for the Nioko2 zone. . While the turnover declared during the same period amounts to an amount of
4,000,000,000 FCFA.
Of all this financial windfall, the tax administration only received the sum of 83,936,380 FCFA as tax revenue.
How can we therefore understand this enormous discrepancy between the revenue actually collected, the declared turnover and the net taxes paid?
The privatization of SOCOGIB, presented as an era of renewal and prosperity for the Burkinabè state, has transformed into a vast enterprise of hiding plots, revealing systematic and deeply rooted corruption.
Indeed, in May 2021, under the false pretext of having been the victim of breakages during the popular uprising of October 30 and 31, 2014, Mr. Mahamadou Ouédraogo then general director of SOCOGIB then president of the board of directors, after the flight of the former PCA, her mother, decided to transfer 700 plots covering an area of 309,279 m² to Madame Compaoré Salah, wife of the younger brother of former President Blaise Compaoré, for the paltry sum of 50,000,000 FCFA, a sum which was never paid, while the real value of these plots is estimated at 10,824,765,000 FCFA.
This scandalous transaction illustrates the extent to which private interests were favored to the detriment of the interests of the community.
The situation reached its climax on December 30, 2022, when, through a notarized agreement, the same Mahamadou Ouédraogo transferred free of charge a total of 3,300 plots to various companies, namely:
– 500 plots in SAGBA TP;
– 2,000 plots at Salma International;
– 600 plots at AZIMMO SA;
– And 200 plots in TAN-ALIZ SA.
It should be noted that all these companies belong to brothers, sisters, the mother and Mr. Mahamadou Ouédraogo himself.
The total value of these plots amounts to 19,800,000,000 FCFA, demonstrating the extent of the spoliation.
These acts reveal serious collusion between the authorities of the time and real estate developers where decisions are made behind the scenes, without real transparency, bypassing control mechanisms.
These acquisitions also reveal insidious practices of land grabbing, carried out with the blatant and active complicity of the authorities of the time with counterparties.
Not only did they not follow the normal rules in this area, but the promises made to the populations were also not respected, thus creating tensions and crises linked to dispossession in certain places.
These various maneuvers, following privatization, reveal a climate of predation, corruption and embezzlement, to the detriment of the State and hardworking citizens.
Today, while our country is fully engaged in the war against terrorism, these funds resulting from criminal practices are used by their owners or holders to finance the enemies of the people.
Yesterday’s thieves have today become sponsors of terrorist and destabilization actions through various circuits against Burkina Faso, their own country.
Yesterday, they ruined the State and compromised the well-being of the Burkinabe people.
Today, outside Burkina Faso, and still motivated by greed for power, they are still helping to slow down its takeoff, its independence and its development.
Consequently, while reaffirming the determination of the Transition, under the leadership of His Excellency Captain Ibrahim Traoré, President of Faso, Head of State to restore the values of integrity, solidarity, honesty, courage, fairness, transparency and probity, the government will take all appropriate and firm measures against individuals and companies whose actions harm our dear homeland. Some measures are already underway and other more specific ones are in the works.
In any case, the courts will be seized to hear this case with a view to applying the rigor of the law to the authors or accomplices of all these embezzlements.
The populations are therefore invited to engage valiantly in this dynamic, to denounce all cases of financial embezzlement, theft of property, abuse of authority and power exercised against honest citizens and to no longer buy plots as soon as now with the companies involved while awaiting the taking of urgent measures which will be carried out.
All institutions and structures engaged in the fight against these scourges are called upon here. Speed in the processing of denunciations, complaints and files of economic crimes is expected.
Together, let’s work to build a society of justice, peace and prosperity for all!
Homeland or Death, we Will Win!
Captain Azaria SORGHO
Porte-parole du KORAG