South Sudan probes army officers over financial scam
February 8, 2016 (JUBA) – Several high-ranking South Sudanese military officers have been removed from command positions and put under investigation and others were arrested in an ongoing corruption probe.
Other officers, who have been implicated in the deal, include Brigadier General, John Malith, the division’s head of finance and administration.
A finance document Sudan Tribune obtained shows that 100,000 South Sudanese Pound (SSP) was swindled, while the head of logistics at the 17th brigade, Brigadier Manyuat Ruei, allegedly took SSP112,000 for June 2015.
While purposes of the taking salaries of the soldiers by other officers within the division remained unclear, documents obtained showed Okot used SSP 235000 to pay for accumulated unpaid taxes, which his private company, Africana I Wire Enterprises allegedly failed to pay to government as a legal requirement for all registered companies.
The company currently has branches offices in Yei, Juba as well as Nimule towns.
Several officials at the country’s Finance as well as the Defense ministries also told Sudan Tribune Okot and other officers were removed from their command positions and put under investigation allegedly after intelligence and internal audit reports linked them to a deal that reportedly saw the government pay up to SSP 2,350,450.
The money, according to documents obtained, was in fulfillment of a 15 May 2012 contract between the Ministry of Defense and his company, which was used to supply food rations to the directorate of medical corps, military police and military justice directorate in August 2012.
Defense officials claimed they carried out investigations and discovered that the government paid for goods and services, which were not delivered.
Okot is also being probed for allegedly using salaries of the soldiers for personal businesses and failing to pay back, forcing soldiers to go strike due to delay in payment of their salaries for the month June 2015.
A high-level military officer told Sudan Tribune the general was removed from his command position to allow investigation to be carried to establish facts surrounding circumstances under which he and his officers used a total amount of money amounting to SSP 840,000 meant as salaries for soldiers in the 17th brigade for their own issues, claiming that this money will be repaid once they received money from businesses which they wanted to secure using the salaries of the soldiers.
The officer, who preferred anonymity, claimed Okot took SSP 235,000 from the 840,000 allegedly meant to be paid to the account of the division.
“This is one of the reasons why he is and other officers were implicated in the scandal were moved from command positions. The officer alleged that the money was divided among officers, with Johnson Juma Okot himself taking 235,000 South Sudanese pound, Major Juma Deng; head of military intelligence for the division took 393,000, Brigadier General Manyuat Ruei, head of logistics department for division and Brigadier General John Malith, head of administration for the division”, said the officer.
“Johnson [Okot] and some of his officers have a lot of problems, not just two or three administrative matters. They have many problems to be investigated”, he added.
The former commander of the army’s 6th division could not be reached for a comment.
(ST)