Burkina Faso News: Customs chief is sacked
EU development commissioner Andris Piebalgs speaks with Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore on November 25, 2011 at the presidential palace in Ouagadougou. Piebalgs said that some 1.4 million people in Burkina Faso could be exposed this year to a food crisis due to lack of rain during the growing season.
Burkina Faso's top customs official has been sacked after suitcases containing $4 million were traced back to him.
Ousmane Guiro was fired by presidential decree after his nephew and others were allegedly found in possession of suitcases owned by the customs chief stuffed with bundles of cash.
Guiro has form in such matters. Not only was his government department ranked the most corrupt institution in West Africa in 2010 but he himself was accused of (though not prosecuted for) tax evasion two years earlier.