The mayor of Senegal’s capital city, Dakar, has been detained for allegedly embezzling public money.
Khalifa Sall has been charged with fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering, over missing city funds that are reported to be around $2.9 million.
Khalifa has however denied any wrongdoing, and says his arrest is politically motivated.
He has been the mayor of Dakar since 2009, and is widely considered a possible presidential contender for the 2019 elections.
The mayor is a member of the Socialist party which forms part of the ruling coalition, but is considered a maverick.
The BBC reports that Khalifa was arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in custody, along with five members of his staff.
This is the second high-profile corruption case in Senegal since President Macky Sall was elected into office in 2012 amid widespread popular discontent about corruption.
In 2015, Karim Wade, the son of the former President Abdoulaye Wade, was sentenced to six years in prison for illegally enriching himself.
A senior minister in his father’s government, he had been in custody since 2013 and received a presidential pardon last year.
