Sudan finance ministry accused of hiding 16 billion pounds

January 14, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – A report by the Sudan’s Inspector General accused the Ministry of Finance of “cooking the books” by hiding 16 billion pounds in liabilities from its financial statements.

The head of the auditing body al-Tahir Abdul Gayoom said in his report that his office is in the process of tracking down the money which was discovered when reviewing the central bank’s records.

The report also revealed the existence of 451.9 million pounds in obligations owed by the ministries of defense, interior, foreign affairs and public administration at the Ministry of Finance and Customs that has been carried over for years.

It also accused certain influential figures in the government of directly awarding bids to people linked to them using higher than market prices without writing contracts to protect the interests of the ministries in question.

Among the other irregularities spotted by the auditor was ministries retaining funds that should otherwise be sent to the finance ministry including $12.1 million in hard currency. Furthermore, ten government units are spending money outside the budget.

Some government agencies continued to keep consultants whose contracts have not been renewed and had terminated employees who remained on the payroll long after they left.

(ST)