<p>Mali's former prime minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who was being held on suspicion of corruption, has died, his family said Monday.</p>.<p>He died in the early hours at a Bamako clinic surrounded by guards, a family member told AFP without giving further details.</p>.<p>Maiga was a close ally of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was overthrown by strongman Colonel Assimi Goita in August 2020.</p>.<p>He was questioned in connection with the allegedly fraudulent purchase of a presidential plane in 2014 when Maiga was serving as defence minister.</p>.<p>Mali's government auditor investigated the purchase and found that officials had embezzled public money by overbilling for the plane.</p>.<p>Maiga had been in custody since August 2021, initially in a central Bamako detention centre, before being transferred to the clinic where he died.</p>.<p>A former foreign minister and head of the intelligence service, he was believed to be well connected in Mali's security establishment and had been accused of financing pro-state militias.</p>.<p>He was appointed Keita's prime minister in 2017 but resigned in April 2019 over a massacre that left 160 people dead.</p>.<p>Mali has been struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north, before spreading to the centre, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.</p>.<p>Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the conflict, crippling an already impoverished country.</p>.<p>Army officers led by Goita deposed Keita after weeks of protests over his failure to defeat the jihadists and anger over perceived government corruption.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>
<p>Mali's former prime minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who was being held on suspicion of corruption, has died, his family said Monday.</p>.<p>He died in the early hours at a Bamako clinic surrounded by guards, a family member told AFP without giving further details.</p>.<p>Maiga was a close ally of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was overthrown by strongman Colonel Assimi Goita in August 2020.</p>.<p>He was questioned in connection with the allegedly fraudulent purchase of a presidential plane in 2014 when Maiga was serving as defence minister.</p>.<p>Mali's government auditor investigated the purchase and found that officials had embezzled public money by overbilling for the plane.</p>.<p>Maiga had been in custody since August 2021, initially in a central Bamako detention centre, before being transferred to the clinic where he died.</p>.<p>A former foreign minister and head of the intelligence service, he was believed to be well connected in Mali's security establishment and had been accused of financing pro-state militias.</p>.<p>He was appointed Keita's prime minister in 2017 but resigned in April 2019 over a massacre that left 160 people dead.</p>.<p>Mali has been struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first emerged in the north, before spreading to the centre, neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.</p>.<p>Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the conflict, crippling an already impoverished country.</p>.<p>Army officers led by Goita deposed Keita after weeks of protests over his failure to defeat the jihadists and anger over perceived government corruption.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>