Accusations of deep-seated corruption have been brought to light by the Korag, an influential body established in Burkina Faso last year with the mandate to oversee the country’s strategic direction during its transitional phase. In a detailed official statement, Korag revisited a four-year-old case involving customs officials who were allegedly involved in extorting money from commercial truck drivers seeking passage for their vehicles.

The new oversight institution asserts that investigators have amassed incontrovertible physical evidence of this racketeering. This includes significant amounts of cash discovered in the offices and homes of the suspects, alongside corroborating witness testimonies and video recordings that captured the illicit activities in progress.

Despite the compelling nature of this evidence, the implicated individuals were granted an acquittal, a decision that has been strongly criticized by the junta. The transitional government now alleges that a lawyer and ten high-ranking magistrates from the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal accepted bribes to facilitate the release of the customs officers and, critically, to reveal the identities of crucial prosecution witnesses.

Korag has vehemently condemned these actions, labeling the entire process a “judicial masquerade” and pinpointing a “severe dysfunction within the justice chain and witness protection mechanisms.” These findings, deemed sufficient by Korag, led to the arrest of the magistrates last month. The junta has affirmed its commitment to implementing “disciplinary measures against any judicial actors found to be unethical, with the possibility of further legal prosecution.”