The Auditor General's office in Mali has conducted a performance audit of the Office Central de Lutte contre l'Enrichissement Illicite (OCLEI), covering the period from January 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025. The audit aimed to assess whether the strategic leadership and operational activities of OCLEI are aligned with its objectives. The audit focused on the functioning of the Council, risk management, and operational activities, including prevention of illicit enrichment, cooperation, and communication.
The audit revealed significant weaknesses in the strategic leadership of OCLEI, including non-compliance with the composition of its activity poles. The Prevention and Asset Declaration Pole has four members, exceeding the maximum of three, while the Cooperation Pole has only one member, falling short of the minimum of two required. Additionally, the Council does not develop an annual activity program and does not adopt its annual budgets within the required timeframe.
The audit also identified weaknesses in the internal control system of OCLEI, including limited access to management documents by the Internal Audit Service. The audited services did not provide the internal auditor with unrestricted access to necessary documents, hindering the completion of certain internal audit missions. The President of OCLEI has not taken necessary measures to address this issue, limiting the effectiveness of the internal audit function.
The audit found that OCLEI's contribution to the repression of illicit enrichment is hampered by weaknesses in its complaint and denunciation reception system. Tests conducted on March 10 and 16, 2026, revealed that OCLEI's toll-free number, 80 00 22 22, was not functional due to an undetected fault. The number was only restored on April 24, 2026, over a month after the first test.
Furthermore, the audit discovered that OCLEI presented an overestimated performance in 2024 regarding the exploitation of received asset declarations. While the actual exploitation rate was 100%, OCLEI reported a 200% realization rate in its Annual Performance Report. This discrepancy resulted from using a target of 50% instead of the 100% target set in the Multi-Year Expenditure Programming Document-Annual Performance Project.
The audit also found that OCLEI has not effectively implemented its cooperation actions, with only one out of six cooperation agreements showing signs of execution, representing 17%. The slow implementation of cooperation agreements can be attributed to their insufficient alignment with OCLEI's operational needs and the lack of action plans to ensure their execution.
Finally, the audit noted that OCLEI's communication activities lack a global strategy, which may lead to a coherence deficit between short-term planned actions. The Auditor General's office has made several recommendations to address these weaknesses, including ensuring compliance with the composition of activity poles, improving access to management documents, and developing operational action plans for cooperation agreements.
Key points
- The Auditor General's report highlights significant weaknesses in OCLEI's management, including ineffective strategic leadership and poor risk management.
- The weaknesses identified in the report may limit OCLEI's ability to effectively prevent and repress illicit enrichment in Mali.
- The Auditor General's office has made recommendations to address these weaknesses and improve OCLEI's overall performance.
