Gambiaj.com – (DAKAR, Senegal) – The publication of the 2025 activity report of Senegal’s National Financial Intelligence Processing Unit, known as CENTIF, has reignited debate over transparency and accountability under the ruling PASTEF administration, which rose to power promising “Jub, Jubbal, Jubanti,” a slogan centered on integrity, accountability, and good governance.
The report paints a troubling picture of suspicious financial activity in Senegal while also raising concerns about the slow pace of institutional accountability under the current government.
According to the report, CENTIF registered 866 suspicious transaction reports and declarations of suspicion in 2025.
However, only 37 reports were transmitted to the Financial Judicial Pool for possible legal action, despite the scale of alleged irregularities identified.
The figures represent a 6.7 percent decrease compared to 2024, but observers say the volume of suspicious operations remains alarming.
Among the major concerns highlighted in the report were 679 declarations linked to fraud-related activities and more than 28.2 million cash transactions recorded during the year, underscoring the continued dominance of cash-based operations often associated with money laundering risks and illicit financial circuits.
CENTIF also disclosed that it made 40 requests for information to foreign partners as part of cross-border financial investigations but received only 21 responses, illustrating the difficulties Senegal faces in tracing international financial networks.
For critics, however, the issue goes beyond the figures themselves. They argue that the report exposes a widening gap between the transparency promises made by the PASTEF government and the performance of the country’s oversight institutions.
Babacar Ba, leader of the Forum du Justiciable, said the CENTIF report reflects what he described as a troubling slowdown in public transparency.
According to him, “transparency has been put on standby.”
He pointed to delays in the publication of reports by key oversight bodies such as the Cour des Comptes and the Inspection Générale d’État, arguing that institutions expected to embody rigor and impartiality are increasingly failing to provide citizens with timely information on the management of public finances.
“These control bodies leave doubts about their effectiveness when delays in publishing reports deprive citizens of essential information on public management,” he said.
Concerns were also raised about the Assemblée nationale du Sénégal, which critics say has shown little visibility regarding the execution of its own budget, further fueling perceptions of opacity within state institutions.
Attention has also turned to state-linked enterprises, particularly SOGEPA, which has faced criticism over the absence of detailed public reporting on operations involving the recovery and management of state-owned properties.
At the level of public procurement oversight, critics have also questioned developments within ARCOP, Senegal’s public procurement regulatory authority.
The appointment of ministerial adviser Aly Nar Diop to the presidency of the regulatory council has drawn accusations of a possible conflict of interest from governance advocates.
The growing criticism comes at a politically sensitive time for the PASTEF administration, which came to office on promises of breaking with past governance practices and restoring public trust in state institutions.
While supporters of the government argue that reforms are ongoing and institutions require time to function effectively, civil society groups warn that prolonged delays in publishing audits, investigations, and accountability reports risk undermining the credibility of the transparency agenda that helped bring the current leadership to power.
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