*South Sudan economy: Quick View - Officials jailed for graft/ EIU 06.07.16* Event
In June South Sudan's high court issued life sentences to 16 former officials found guilty of corruption while working in the office of the president. Analysis The government employees convicted include a former presidential chief administrator, a national security officer, the controller of accounts at the presidency, four Kenyan citizens, and several central bank employees. A high court judge, Ladu Armenio, issued life sentences to all 16, who were accused of forging the signature of the president, Salva Kiir, and using it to steal at least US$14m. However, whereas some South Sudanese activists have welcomed the conviction, others have criticised the trial, on the grounds that it is a further example of the authorities choosing to press corruption charges against relatively junior officials rather than influential politicians. The administration's record for investigating and combating corruption is certainly half-hearted, at best. In the late 2000s (when South Sudan was autonomous but not yet independent) and early 2010s a number of ministers (including finance ministers) were suspended and lightly investigated, when faced with allegations of corruption. But no senior official has ever been convicted. Likewise, it appears that no-one has ever been brought to account for the country's largest single corruption case, the dura grain scandal in 2009, when public procurement of grain reserves appeared to lead to the theft of upwards of US$1bn. In the late 2000s Mr Kiir made some prominent pledges to tackle corruption, and once issued an amnesty for officials to return stolen funds. However, it is widely suspected that so many powerful figures, and many senior officials, are implicated in corruption that it makes it impolitic for Mr Kiir to try to pursue any high-level convictions. Thus after years of trying to get good governance and public financial management practices embedded in South Sudan, international donors and organisations have reluctantly accepted that graft is deeply embedded at all levels of the government. -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14ooqsH%3Dfv2HB9POxatuvau5mh1Qg74A0pQNBOgayntJfaA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
