S‚n‚gal, May 23, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Senegalese court on Thursday indicted a fourth minister from the country's former government on corruption charges as President Bassirou Diomaye Faye steps up an anti-graft campaign, officials and media said.

Moustapha Diop, industrial development minister under president Macky Sall, is accused of misusing some four million dollars in funds from the West African nation's fund for combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

The court ordered Diop's detention, members of his entourage said.

Diop is one of five former ministers facing allegations of corruption including the misuse of funds intended to fight the pandemic.

Senegal's national assembly earlier this month voted to order a special court to investigate the five former ministers.

The court on Monday charged ex-women's minister Salimata Diop with "complicity in embezzlement" and on Tuesday charged former justice minister Ismaila Madior Fall with taking bribes.

Former mining minister Aissatou Sophie Gladima was on Wednesday charged with embezzlement of $330,000 from a fund for miners affected by Covid-19.

A fifth minister, Amadou Mansour Faye, is to appear next week before the special court.