In Burkina Faso, serious allegations of corruption have been brought forward by the Korag, an influential body established last year. Tasked with overseeing the implementation of the nation’s strategic vision during its transitional phase, the Korag has revisited a four-year-old case involving customs agents accused of extorting money from road transporters seeking to move their trucks across borders.

According to the newly formed institution, investigators had gathered irrefutable material evidence of this illicit racketeering. This included substantial sums of cash discovered in the agents’ offices and residences, along with witness testimonies and video footage capturing them in the act.

Despite this overwhelming evidence, the accused customs officials were granted a dismissal of charges. This outcome is strongly deplored by the junta, which now points fingers at an attorney and ten high-ranking magistrates from the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal. These judicial figures are accused of accepting bribes to secure the customs agents’ release and, critically, of revealing the identities of key prosecution witnesses.

The Korag vehemently denounced this situation as a “judicial charade” and a “severe breakdown in the justice chain and witness protection protocols.” These findings, the body asserts, provided ample justification for the arrest of the magistrates last month. The junta has pledged to uphold “disciplinary sanctions against unscrupulous actors within the judicial system, without precluding further legal proceedings.”