Senegal says ex-president Wade`s son freed after graft pardon

Senegalese President Macky Sall has pardoned Karim Wade, the son of his predecessor and a former minister who was jailed for graft in March 2015, the justice ministry said Friday.

In detention since his 2013 arrest, Wade was serving a six-year sentence after being convicted of illicitly amassing a fortune worth at least 178 million euros ($198 million).

Wade was "freed on Friday morning. He then left Dakar to go to Qatar," said Soro Diop, press officer for the ministry.

Sall had raised the possibility of a pardon in an interview with French broadcaster RFI on June 2, saying "A lot of people are asking that he be released," and adding that "they should not lose hope."

The younger Wade was an extremely divisive figure in Senegalese politics in the run-up to the country`s last election when his father`s bid to seek a third term sparked deadly riots.

Many believed Abdoulaye Wade, in power from 2000-2012, was trying to line him up for succession.