Komi Koutche, a former finance minister of Benin, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia after a court found him guilty of embezzlement and abuse of office.
Koutche, who served in the government of ex-President Thomas Boni Yayi for more than two years until 2016, also has to pay a fine of 500 million CFA francs ($826,000), Benin's Economic Crimes and Terrorism Court said in an April 4 ruling. The 43-year-old currently lives in the U.S.
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The trial was political and a “parody,” he said in emailed comments on Wednesday. The charges were related to his tenure as head of the National Fund for Microcredit, he said.
As a member of Yayi's Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin party, Koutche was considered a possible candidate to stand against President Patrice Talon in elections in 2021.
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