March 25, 2012 (JUBA) – The South Sudan Anti-Corruption Commission (SSACC) has announced that 31 March is the deadline for the submission of forms detailing the assets of politicians, senior civil servants and senior army officials.
South Sudanese citizens exchange money at the bank (Reuters)Those individuals who do not meet the deadline, “shall be considered to have resigned by the end of this month”, the deputy chair of the commission Johnny Saverio, told journalists on Sunday.
He said the format was designed in such a way that meet the international anti-corruption standards, particularly those of the World Bank and the UN’s Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative.
Saverio said a number of senior government officials have already declared their assets but that the process is proving slow in several states. Saverio reminded those officials who assume that the call for an asset deceleration does not refer to them, that it is a nationwide programme at all senior and directorate levels.
In February the chairperson of the SSACC, John Gatwech Lul, met with the Chief of General Staff, James Hoth Mai, and his five deputies. Gatwech presented the income and assets declaration forms to the army leadership and asked them to cooperate.
When the auditor general, Stephen Kilionza Wondu, presented the government accounts for the 2005-2006 period to parliament, he revealed that over US$1 billion was unaccounted for.
The revelation prompted the South Sudan parliament to summon both the former minister of finance and economic planning, Arthur Akwen Chol and the governor of the then Central Bank of Southern Sudan, Elijah Malok Aleng, accusing them of facilitating corruption.
Various rebel groups fighting in South Sudan cite corruption as one of their main gripes against the government in Juba.
On the 23 March South Sudan’s main opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Democration Change (SPLM-DC) threatened legal action against the secretary general of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum.
The SPLM-DC claim that charges against Amum, accusing him of embezzling US$30million in public funds, were dropped because the judge was leant upon by chief justice Chan Reec Madut.South Sudan Anit-Corruption Commission Office of the Chairperson, January 11, 2012
(ST)
