South Sudan to launch anti-corruption review
Jan. 24, 2007 (JUBA) — South Sudan’s anti-corruption commission will launch a wide-ranging probe into the semi-autonomous government’s contracts after allegations arose that millions of Sudanese dinar had disappeared.
The head of the anti-corruption commission Pauline Riak told Reuters on Wednesday the massive investigation would begin on Feb. 1 and include all government ministries and the army.
“The task is to review all government contracts, or contracts made on behalf of the Government of Southern Sudan in the years 2005 and 2006,” Riak said.
“This includes all government institutions including commissions, the army as well as ministries. It is potentially massive.”
Mading Majok, under-secretary of southern Sudan’s Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, who headed an earlier corruption investigation has said initial indications were that many millions of Sudanese dinars had been embezzled.
A January 2005 peace deal, which ended the war in south Sudan, created a semi-autonomous government based in the southern capital Juba. The government is dominated by former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Sudan produces 330,000 barrels per day of oil from fields in the south. Under the deal, the southern government receives 50 percent of the oil revenues, which last year was more than $1 billion.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has taken a firm line on corruption within his administration which is still struggling to establish its structures after being formed in September 2005.
In early January he sacked three top officials from the southern finance ministry, including an under-secretary and a director-general, for corruption. Last year he placed senior local southern officials accused of corruption under house arrest.
Riak said the review committee being established included members from the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, the auditor general’s office as well as the anti-corruption commission itself.
The anti-corruption investigation, commissioned by Kiir, has three months to complete its report.
The independent anti-corruption commission was set up in June 2005 to protect public property, raise awareness about corruption in the public and advise the government on anti- corruption policy.
Riak said an Anti-Corruption Act would be passed this year, which will allow the commission to review the assets of some government employees on a yearly basis.
She said access would include bank accounts abroad, in Sudan and accounts of family members.
(Reuters)