Following President Macky Sall’s inauguration into office in 2012 amid popular widespread discontent about corruption, the mayor of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, has been placed in custody for allegedly embezzling public funds.

According to Ceoafrica, a judge investigating $2.9m (£2.3m) in missing city funds has charged Khalifa Sall, with fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering; he denies any wrongdoing and says his arrest is politically motivated.

Mr Sall, who has been Dakar's mayor since 2009, has been widely considered a possible presidential contender for elections in 2019.

He is a member of the Socialist Party, part of the ruling coalition, but he is considered a maverick; Sall was arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in detention, along with at least five members of his staff.

Under Senegalese law, he will not be eligible for bail and will stay in jail until his trial.

Sall’s detention  is the second high-profile corruption case in SenegalKarim Wade, the son of the former President Abdoulaye Wade, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 for illegally enriching himself.

A senior minister in his father's government, he had been in custody since 2013 and received a presidential pardon last year.

He now lives in exile in Qatar.

Supporters of the Dakar's mayor say he is a victim of a plot to undermine him, but Sall’s lawyers are of the opinion that his arrest and detention are only to stop him in his political ambitions.