Political Corruption

The Auditor General’s Annual Report 2009 (in French) reports that the financial audit in 2007 had identified weaknesses and irregularities in the work done by La Direction Nationale de la Géologie et des Mines (DNGM), which operates under the Ministry of Mines. It also revealed that the government did not know the exact quantities of gold produced by the mining companies, thus taxes from them had not been paid.

According to a September 2008 news article from EU Business, Mali's energy minister Ahmed Sow resigned amid an ongoing corruption enquiry linked to his previous position as the head of the Brussels-based Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE), an aid agency. Sow is suspected of conflict of interest involving a USD 4.2 million loan given to a Malian textile company. The company went bankrupt shortly after receiving the loan from the European Investment Bank, which gives credit based on recommendations from CDE.

According to several sources including BBC News in 2005, a coalition of farmers, academics and NGOs, the Coalition to Protect Mali's Genetic Heritage, has accused USAID and multinationals like Monsanto and Syngenta of encouraging Malian researchers and Malian government officials to accept controversial biotechnology in return for computers, printers, office equipment, vehicles, and scholarships for study of biotechnology in the US. Minister of Agriculture Seydou Traore has dismissed the accusations.