South Sudanese security operatives arrest bank manager
October 26, 2016 (YAMBIO) – South Sudanese security agents have arrested the branch manager of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, for reasons yet to be established.
His arrest, some say, could be directly linked to money transfers suspected by state authorities to have gone to armed opposition officials outside the state.
Sudan Tribune was unable to establish the authenticity of these claims linking the Kenyan-owned bank to the armed opposition faction members.
MONEY LAUNDERING
KCB was recently accused of aiding money laundering by corrupt government officials in South Sudan, including senior military leaders sanctioned by the United Nations in the wake of the country’s civil war.
The United States-based organisation, The Sentry, after a two-year investigation into corruption in South Sudan, money movement and assets locations, said it found that the Kenyan-owned bank took part in transferring money allegedly stolen by corrupt government officials.
South Sudanese leaders, the report said, transferred millions of dollars of ill-gotten wealth outside the country during a civil war that left nearly half the country’s people homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
The 66-page report specifically mentioned South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and some of his top associates, along with the country’s former vice-president, Riek Machar, as having invested millions of dollars in real estate in Kenya, Uganda and Australia.
Among the senior army generals in South Sudan named by the report named is General Gabriel Jok Riak, who had been transferring hundreds of thousands of US dollars despite his monthly salary being less than $3 000, or only about $35 000 a year.
“Bank records reviewed by The Sentry indicate that General Jok Riak received large financial transfers totalling at least $367 000 to his personal bank account at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) from February to December 2014 alone – sums that dwarf his official annual salary of about $35 000,” The Sentry said in its report.
(ST)