NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Mauritania’s prime minister and his entire government resigned on Thursday, a day after parliamentary investigators probing alleged graft under the previous administration submitted a report whose authors questioned several ministers.
The political system in Mauritania has been rocked this year by a parliamentary investigation into alleged corruption in the government of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who stepped down last year after a decade in power.
His close ally Mohamed Ould Ghazouani won the election to succeed him, but Abdel Aziz quickly found his government’s actions, including deals involving offshore oil projects, under scrutiny by parliament.
The investigators on Wednesday gave a report documenting their findings to the public prosecutor. The report has not been made public but several current ministers were questioned about suspected graft that occurred on their watch while serving in senior positions in Abdel Aziz’s government.
In brief remarks to reporters on Thursday, Prime Minister Ismail Ould Cheikh Sidiya said he had submitted the government’s resignation to Ghazouani but did not provide an explanation.
(Reporting by Kissima Diagana; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by John Stonestreet and Giles Elgood)
