Following her appearance before the High Court of Justice as part of the investigation into alleged embezzlement of an anti-Covid fund, the former Senegalese Minister of Mines and Geology, Aïssatou Sophie Gladima, was placed under arrest warrant on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.

The former minister was indicted for embezzlement of public funds, including the use of a 1 billion CFA fund managed by the ministry she headed. According to local media, the Director of General Administration and Equipment of the same ministry, Alassane Diallo, was also questioned in

Noted that Aïssatou Sophie Gladima is among the five ministers of the previous administration indicted for alleged embezzlement on 8 May by the National Assembly which then referred them to the High Court of Justice (HCJ), a special jurisdiction, for in particular misappropriations related to & agrave; an anti-covid fund. She is the first to be detained among the five former ministers involved.

The Force Covid-19 fund, worth 1,000 billion CFA francs, was set up by the Senegalese State as part of the Economic and Social Resilience Program, in order to relieve households and businesses in a context of lockdown.