Senegal probes corruption allegations

The government has moved fast to investigate block sale

Senegalese authorities have begun a formal inquiry into the government award of offshore acreage to the Romanian-Australian extractive industries investor Frank Timis. The blocks—which form part of the Tortue/Ahmeyin gas project, one of the world's largest offshore gas finds of recent years—were subsequently sold to BP and are in the process of being developed. The spotlight is on the circumstances in which Timis secured the rights in the first place, the financial terms he later agreed with BP and payments allegedly relating to Aliou Sall—brother of Senegal's President Macky Sall—who used to be a senior executive of Timis' business in the country. A BBC Panorama documentary broadcast on 3 J