South Sudan probes army officers over financial scam
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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.
JPEG - 78.1 kb
Soldiers from the South Sudanese army (SPLA) assembled in the capital,
Juba on 8 January 2014 (Photo: Mehmet Kemal Firik/Anadolu
Agency/Getty)
Major General Johnson Juma Okot, the commander of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army (SPLA) for its 6th division has been removed from his
command position over a role he allegedly played in a financial
scandal.
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)
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