Charged with forgery and use of forged bank documents and attempted fraud involving public funds, 29-year-old Idrissa Thioukry Guiro appeared before the Dakar Magistrates' Court on November 5, 2025. The businessman, residing in Sacré-Cœur, is accused of presenting a false bank guarantee in connection with a public contract awarded by the Program to Support the Development of Agriculture and Rural Entrepreneurship (PADAER). He sought to obtain a start-up advance of 12 million CFA francs using this fraudulent guarantee.

Following a tender won by Guiro's family company for the construction of a project within the framework of the PADAER program, he submitted an advance payment guarantee supposedly issued by Orabank. However, the PADAER financial services, suspicious, conducted a check with the bank. They discovered that no guarantee had been issued in the name of the defendant or his company.

When questioned, Idrissa Guiro admitted to submitting the disputed document, denying any fraudulent intent. "I submitted it myself, but I didn't know it was fake. My aunt, who has since passed away, gave me the document. She always helped us with administrative procedures," he argued in court.

According to him, she asked him for one million CFA francs to secure the deposit, assuring him it came from a reliable source. But two weeks later, having not received the advance, he produced another deposit, a so-called non-performance bond, which allowed him to receive the first payment for the contract. It was only later, after an email from the PADAER infrastructure director, that he learned the first document was fraudulent.

However, the investigation uncovered a second dubious document: a fake guarantee in the name of the National Insurance and Surety Company (SONAC), also filed by Guiro. The manager of SONAC confirmed that this document did not originate from her department.

For Bachir Lo, the lawyer representing Orabank, the scheme leaves no room for doubt: "Mr. Guiro presented two forged documents to obtain public funds. The facts of forgery and use of forged documents are undisputed." The lawyer requested 6 million CFA francs in damages.

The public prosecutor, for his part, considered the facts to be serious, but requested an admission of guilt, while leaving it to the court to assess the possible good faith of the accused.

The defense, led by attorney Souleymane Soumaré, pleaded his client's good faith, maintaining that he had never intended to deceive anyone. "This was a mistake due to his inexperience. He trusted relatives, thinking he was doing the right thing. Moreover, he paid 12 million CFA francs to the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (a French public financial institution) to prove his good faith." The defense then requested an outright acquittal or, failing that, leniency from the court and the defendant's provisional release.

The court rejected the request for provisional release and adjourned the case for deliberation until November 7, 2025.