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Karim Wade

DAKAR. — A court in Senegal has sentenced the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade to six years in prison for corruption. Karim Wade was also fined $230 million for illegal enrichment during his father’s 12-year rule. He was chosen at the weekend as the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the PDS.

President Macky Sall warned last week that his government would not tolerate any attempt to destabilise Senegal after the court gave its verdict. Sall defeated Abdoulaye Wade in fiercely contested elections in 2012. Karim Wade was accused of illegally amassing about $1,4 billion and has been in detention since April 2013. Judge Henri Gregoire Diop said he had hidden away funds in offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and Panama, Reuters news agency reports.

“The facts before us constitute illicit enrichment by Karim Wade,” the judge is quoted as saying. Opposition supporters inside the courtroom shouted in protest, denouncing the verdict as “shameful”. Wade was a senior minister in his father’s government. — BBC.