Burkina Faso is owed more than 123 billion CFA francs ($212 million) in unpaid taxes due between 2012 and 2014, with senior members of ousted President Blaise Compaore's government among the worst offenders, according to a parliamentary report.
Alexandre Sankara, vice-president of the parliamentary commission investigating tax fraud, said that former ministers and members of parliament under Compaore's 27-year rule featured on a list of suspected fraudsters sent to the head of the transitional assembly.
"This fraud is seriously harming our economy," Sankara said. Compaore was swept from power in October 2014 by an uprising when he attempted to prolong his rule by removing a constitutional term limit. Many in the
West African country are pushing for members of the former government to face justice. A short-lived coup by Compaore's presidential guard last month failed to derail the transition to presidential elections, rescheduled for the end of November. Supporters of Compaore's efforts to extend his rule have been barred from running. The commission said that losses to the Treasury from unpaid loans contracted by former ministers, parliamentarians and the former heads of state institutions amounted to 49 billion CFA francs. Economy Minister Jean Gustave Sanon told Reuters the report was part of an attempt to improve revenue collection as part of a modernisation of government finances in one of the world's poorest nations.