On May 9, 2025, Idriss Youssouf Boy was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of one million CFA francs for passive corruption. The ex-minister and former chief of staff to the President of Chad had the charges of influence peddling and abuse of office brought by the prosecutor quashed by the judge.
Idriss Youssouf Boy, a former minister and former chief of staff to the President of the Republic of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby, was found guilty of passive corruption on Friday 09 May 2025. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined one million CFA francs.
‘It’s not the first time Idriss Boy has been accused of embezzlement, corruption and the like. At the start of the transition, when he was in office, he was accused of embezzling several hundred billion from the Chad Hydrocarbons Company, but there was no follow-up. The President of the transition, Mahamat Idriss Deby, himself told the public that he had forgiven Mr Idriss Boy. It’s as if we’re talking about our own money, even if the State’s conception of power in Chad is a patrimonial one, which the community has won through the sacrifice of blood since 1990 with the arrival of President Déby Itno’.
Ahmat Mahate Hassan, Political scientist – Chad
The former minister and chief of staff to the President is alleged to have received 11.9 billion CFA francs from the businessman About Hachim Bouder in order to secure government contracts. The case arose following a complaint lodged by the businessman About Hachim Bouder, who accused Idriss Youssouf Boy of fraud. At the end of the investigation, however, it was the same complainant who was convicted of active corruption, with an identical sentence: five years’ imprisonment and a fine of one million CFA francs.
‘In fact, the problem is more political than judicial and legal, that’s the situation. Idrissa Boy has very close ties with the President. Before he was President, during the lifetime of President Idriss Deby, they were very close in the family. And so now the regime is sacrificing people close to it in order to save the credibility and image of the government.
Ahmat Mahate Hassan, Political scientist – Chad
As far as the defence is concerned, the lawyers for the former chief of staff quickly reacted by announcing their intention to appeal. They condemn what they consider to be a harsh and flawed decision. Idriss Youssouf Boy had already been sacked and imprisoned by the Chadian president for embezzlement in 2022. Mahamat Idriss Deby did not hesitate to warn him publicly against a repeat offence in his autobiography De Bédouin à président, published in 2024.
