Societe Generale

Ivory Coast
Money laundering investigation rocks Ivorian banking sector

The Ivorian economic and financial criminal division has for several months been investigating suspected money laundering, amounting to nearly 52 billion CFA francs. The case is as spectacular as it is far-reaching, with Société Générale being the most threatened.

Spotlight | Africa
Afreximbank, Standard Bank and French banks among last financiers of hydrocarbons in Africa

More and more banks, caught between the hammer of oil companies and the anvil of NGOs, are turning their backs on fossil fuel projects in Africa. Only a handful are still showing support for the sector.

Palace Intrigues
Denis Sassou Nguesso, Alassane Ouattara, Nasser Bourita

Intrigues big and small. Every Tuesday, Africa Intelligence takes a peek into the corridors of power in Africa and beyond.

CongoSassou to holiday in Turkey

Ivory CoastAlassane Ouattara's three palaces in Abdijan.

Moroco/FranceRabat angry over twinning of Ivry-sur-Seine with district of Mijek

Madagascar
Madagascar's government takes aim at car dealers

Madagascar's financial intelligence service recently summoned representatives of car dealerships to warn them that they need to clean up their act. The move came after the sector was targeted by a judicial investigation into forgery and money laundering.

Algeria, France
As they return to Algiers, French bosses caught between old and new worlds

Representatives of more than a dozen major French companies will later this month pay their first visit to Algiers in five years. But the government is unhappy with their umbrella organisation's continuing collaboration with a counterpart entity associated with the ousted Bouteflika administration.

Morocco
EDF starts work on Koudia Al Baida wind farm renovation

EDF Renewables is preparing to launch, alongside the Moroccan sustainable energy agency Masen, the Koudia Al Baida wind farm repowering project, near Tangiers.

Africa, Switzerland
Santullo family assets in at least five Swiss banks still frozen amid graft probe

Sericom, the Italian construction group founded by the late Guido Santullo, continues to face legal proceedings in France and Switzerland over allegations of bribery. Earlier this month, Santullo's family conclusively lost a long legal fight to recover some 90bn CFA francs (about $150m) it says Gabon owes it in unpaid invoices.

Africa, France
After BNP, Société Générale ponders sale of African subsidiaries

Having being hit hard by American and European sanctions against Russia, where it owns Rosbank, the French bank Société Générale has, like BNP Paribas, begun to consider a possible withdrawal from Africa.

Morocco
South Africa's Sanlam teams up with IRG Real Estate to launch its own property firm

Sanlam Pan Africa is entering the real estate investment market alongside one of the Moroccan specialists in this sector, which has been expanding rapidly in the Kingdom over the past two years.

Madagascar
After World Bank sanctions, Meridiam increases its stake in Ravinala Airports

Following World Bank sanctions on three of the four shareholders of Ravinala Airports (ADP International, Colas and Bouygues), the capital of this consortium, which manages the new Ivato airport and Nosy Be airport, has been being shaken up in favour of the only shareholder to have escaped sanctions, namely the Meridiam fund.

Spotlight | Libya
Feud threatens New York hunt for "Gaddafi's money"

Both Anwar Arif and Mohammed Ramadan Mensli are claiming leadership of the entity in charge of tracking Libyan assets abroad. This rivalry is endangering the legal proceedings launched in the United States against eight of the world's biggest banks.

Libya
Judicial deadlock in Paris in LIA-Al Kharafi case

The Paris Court of Cassation has not ruled on Al Kharafi's request to seize the Libyan Investment Authority's assets, preferring to await a European Court of Justice ruling on an Iranian case. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti group has obtained some domestic diplomatic support.

DRC
Alleged Hezbollah financier Saleh Assi takes indirect boost from US sanctions

The prominent Kinshasa figure is under US sanctions for his role as a financier to the Shia movement in Lebanon. As a result, some banks that lent tens of millions of dollars to the businessman are unable to recover their debt.

Libya
Spain's Arena leverages ties with Ammar al-Saudi clan into major contracts

When it comes to landing major infrastructure contracts in Libya, Spain's Arena Newman can rely on the networks of Ali Mohamed Saudi, the head of its local subsidiary and son of the star banker of the Gaddafi era, Abdullah Ammar al-Saudi.