Chadian president Mahamat Idriss Déby, the strongman leader of one of the world’s poorest nations, where more than a third of the population live, according to the World Bank, in “extreme poverty”, has spent more than 900,000 euros on bespoke clothing at a high-end Paris tailor’s, Mediapart can reveal.
A total of 915,070 euros was paid for the clothes, sent out of an account in the Chadian capital N’Djamena in two transfers dated December 1st 2021 and May 4th 2023. The made-to-measure garments included 57 suits ranging in price between 9,000 euros and 13,000 euros each, 100 shirts each costing 800 euros, nine safari jackets priced at 7,500 euros per piece, and eight abacosts at 8,000 euros each.
The payments were made from an account with the Banque Commerciale du Chari (one of Chad’s eight authorised banks) belonging to a company called MHK Full Business, registered in N’Djamena. Mediapart contacted a Chadian presidential spokesman to ask what were the origins of the funds paid to the Paris tailoring business, but he failed to reply.
According to its “overview” of Chad, updated in September this year, the World Bank reported that “poverty and vulnerability are pervasive in Chad, with 42.3% of the population living below the national poverty line”.
“Extreme poverty”, which the World Bank defines as a condition in which a person lives on an income of up to 2.15 US dollars per day, has steadily risen in recent years to reach 35.4% of the population in 2023.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, 39, became Chad’s “transitional” leader in April 2021, following the death that month, in circumstances that remain unclear, of his father Idriss Déby Itno, the autocratic president who ruled over Chad for more than 30 years. The official account is that the latter died from wounds sustained when he commanded Chadian forces on the frontline of a battle with rebels in the north of the country.
The former colonial ruler France maintains significant influence in Chadian affairs, and after the death of Idriss Déby Itno senior – whose funeral was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron – Paris lent military and diplomatic support to the military junta led by his son Mahamat, and which proceeded with a violent crackdown on its opponents.
Before the death of his father, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno had led a career with Chad’s “general directorate for security services of state institutions” (DGSSIE), likened as being the regime’s praetorian guard, which he became head of in 2014 at the age of 30.
Designated transitional president, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno initially announced he would hand back power to a civilian government in elections to be held after a period of 18 months – which were finally postponed – and pledged to the intergovernmental African Union organisation that he would not stand in the polling.
NGOs and opposition groups have reported that in October 2022, up to 300 men peacefully demonstrating in N’Djamena against the extension of the transitional government were shot dead by police and the military. The NGOs have also reported the disappearance of opponents of the regime, and the torture of others.
On Sunday, the regime held a referendum on the creation of a new constitution , presented as a move to allow for the return of civilian government, but which opponents dismissed as intended to ensure the election, and the international legitimisation, of Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno as president. The result, widely expected to be a “yes” vote, notably because of calls to boycott the polling, will be announced at the end of this month.
Ill-gotten gains
The staggering list and cost of the tailor-made garments ordered by the Chadian leader in Paris are reminiscent of other shopping sprees by African leaders in the French capital. Most notable is the remarkable multi-million-euro spending by Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of the Republic of Congo (also one of the world’s poorest nations), and his family.
In 2013, Mediapart revealed evidence that had been collected by French police investigating several African leaders over vast assets they held in France and suspected of having been gained from the proceeds of embezzlement of their countries’ national funds. The investigations into what are dubbed “ill-gotten gains” discovered that Denis Sassou Nguesso and his family spent at least 7.7 million euros, mostly from Congolese public funds, during a four-year period of shopping in upmarket Paris stores on mostly jewellery, watches and clothes. The bills were at times paid in cash, at others via the bank accounts of Congolese companies, and occasionally from Swiss sources.
-------------------------
- The original French version of this report can be found here.
English version by Graham Tearse