Sudan to probe accusations of corruption between pilgrimage body & parliament
January 7, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Justice Minister Awad al-Hassan al-Nur Thursday set up two fact- finding committees to investigate the ongoing war of words between the country’s parliament and the Haj (Pilgrimage) Authority.
The move is seen as a response to a decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ibrahim Ahmed, Omer in late December to sue an official of the Haj Authority who accused some MPs of running after personal gains when they levelled accusations against the Haj Authority.
Accordingly, Omer had directed the parliament’s legal advisor to contact the Ministry of Justice and file a suit against the Authority.
He had considered the statements by the Haj Authority’s Director al-Mutee Mohamed Ahmed “a defamation of an esteemed legislative body”.
These serious developments had followed a motion presented by independent MP Abul Gasim Bartam in which he demanded an explanation for Ahmed’s statement that some MPs were driven by personal interests when they criticized his Authority’s performance.
At that time, MP Abdel Basit Sabdarat had called for relegating the file of these accusations to the Ministry of Justice.
Sabdarat had , then, rejected an investigation committee set up by the Ministry of Religious Guidance and Endowments to investigate the matter, arguing the ministry was a party to the case and cannot be neutral as the Haj Authority is one of its departments.
Sabdarat had also considered the accusations by the Haj director as directed against all the parliament members.”
Chairman of the parliament’s Haj supervisory committee Omer Diab had accused the Haj director of misconduct and corruption during the previous Haj season .
But the Haj director, in press statements, had accused Diab of running after personal gains when he aired those accusations.
The parliamentary official later on disclosed that he had received death threats in case he continued with his accusations.
After that, he appeared in a live TV show in which he was supposed to face the Haj director in a debate. The latter, however, failed to appear on the show and did not respond to a number of calls from the programme host. Also, Diab declined to talk in the absence of his foe.
(ST)