Etisalat Case: Beninese Supreme Court Affirms the Conviction of Séverin Adjovi

With this decision, the country’s highest court brings a judicial end to a long dispute with strong political-economic overtones.

Meeting in deliberation session in Porto-Novo, the Court rejected the appeal introduced by the former elected official. While this recourse was deemed admissible in form, it was rejected on its merits. The sentence handed down on appeal in October 2023 by the CRIET Appeal Court (Court for the repression of economic offenses and terrorism) is thus upheld.

As a reminder, Séverin Adjovi was initially sentenced to seven years in prison in July 2020 as part of this case relating to the management of the company Etisalat Benin. The appellate court later reduced this sentence: three months suspended sentence and a fine of two million CFA francs.

Despite this mitigation, the businessman decided to take the case to the Supreme Court, hoping to overturn his conviction. The decision handed down on July 3 definitively closes the judicial path in this case.

This case, which involves governance issues and an economic dispute around a strategic player in telecommunications, has lasted several years and involved in turn the most emblematic courts of the country.