DAKAR, July 16 (Reuters) - An audit of Senegal's public sector has found that some 22,000 civil servants, nearly a fifth of the payroll, may be unlawfully claiming a wage, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The former French colony, which enjoys a reputation as the most stable democracy in West Africa, carried out the audit from November to February as it seeks to curb graft and waste in the public sector.
"We found that 112,798 people are employed as civil servants but our investigation revealed that a total of 22,000 are contentious cases," the government's data processing director, Kassoum Wone, told Reuters.
"We will look at each case individually before taking any decision," he added.
Civil Service Minister Mansour Sy told local media that anyone who unlawfully defrauded money from the state would be forced to reimburse it.
Since President Macky Sall won power in March 2012 he has vowed to fight corruption at all levels of government.
Several high-ranking officials from former president Abdoulaye Wade's administration are facing corruption charges, including his son Karim who is accused of embezzling up to $1.4 billion in state funds.
Senegal, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund, is seeking to cut its fiscal deficit to less than 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year. (Reporting By Diadie Ba; Editing by Daniel Flynn; editing by Ron Askew)
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