Sudanese court acquits Islamist leader in money embezzlement trial
June 5, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese court on Sunday quashed charges of breach of trust and financial abuse against Awad Ahmed Aljaz, one of the leaders of the regime of ousted President Omer al-Bashir.
For nearly three years, Aljaz and others have been on trial in a criminal complaint relating to what was known as the Mashkur sugar factory affair, along with other defendants, including former Minister of Agriculture Abdel Halim al-Mutafi, who went underground after the collapse of the al-Bashir regime.
A second court had earlier charged him of criminal association, breach of trust, and violating the financial and accounting regulations after disposing of a $150 million loan for the construction of a sugar factory in the White Nile State.
Judge Abdel Moneim Abdel Latif based the acquittal on the fact that Aljaz was not found to be involved with the factory director in the alleged embezzlement of money.
The court charged the plant’s executive director, Mohamed Abdel Atti, with spending $25 million without producing documents attesting they had been spent in its construction.
Further, Abel Atti failed to comply with financial and accounting procedures in the disbursement of $2 million received from one of the contractors.
The case of the sugar factory sparked widespread controversy during al-Bashir’s rule, as the government failed to complete the project despite receiving a loan from India.
Aljaz was a close aide to al-Bashir who long time served as oil minister, during the latest years of the former regime he was tasked with relations with countries that have strong economic ties with Sudan.
Also, he is held in Kober prison, with a group of Islamists accused of masterminding and carrying out the June 1989 coup that brought to power al-Bashir and the Sudanese Islamists.
The Sudanese judiciary is perceived a biased by the pro-democracy forces, since many of its decisions poured in favour of the reinstatement of Islamists cadre in the civil service and release of Islamist figures.
(ST)