The financial public prosecutor’s office (PNF) opened an inquiry on the financing of the lifestyle of the son and advisor to the president of Guinea Alpha Condé (photo), during his visits to Paris, the newspaper Le Parisien reports on 28^th September, citing a NGO specialised in the fight against bad governance.

The investigation opened following a complaint by NGO Foundation for Democracy and Governance, headquartered in Brussels, was handed to the Central Office for the Suppression of Serious Financial Crimes (OCRGDF).

The investigators are trying to ascertain whether Mohamed Alpha Condé, 45 years old, benefitted in France from luxury services (accommodation, transportation, alleged payments…) paid for by French companies with interests in the Guinean mining industry. At the centre of the questionings, the use of a large apartment in the XVII arrondissement in Paris, as well as the regular use for tens of thousands of euros, of luxury limousine companies for his travels in the capital.

“We are talking about very expensive services which do not tally with the monthly salary of €800 declared by Mohamed Alpha Condé in his capacity as representative of the office of the President”, Grégory Mathieu, General Secretary of the NGO Foundation for Governance and Democracy, explained.

“We were rather surprised of the lifestyle enjoyed by this person”, he added. According to witness accounts gathered by the NGO, Mohamed Alpha Condé, who has dual French/Guinean nationality, regularly uses private jets in order to travel to exotic destinations where he stays in luxury hotels.

“If the investigation confirms the purported facts, the next step would be to launch an investigation and the appointment of examining magistrates”, the lawyers of the NGO, Ivan Terel and Patrick Klugman, stressed.

The NGO Foundation for Governance and Democracy reminds that Guinea is at the 145^th position out of 174 in the latest perception index on corruption established by Transparency International.