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AFP
Geneva
High-ranking politicians and bureaucrats in South Sudan have siphoned off at least $36 million in public funds, sometimes with the connivance of international corporations and banks, a UN commission said on Wednesday.
The report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan came six days after President Salva Kiir fired the country’s finance minister, the head of the tax-gathering National Revenue Authority as well as the director of the state-owned oil company.
“Our Commission has uncovered brazen embezzlement by senior politicians and government officials, together with entities linked to the government,” the panel’s chairperson, Yasmin Sooka, said.
“We can reveal the misappropriation of a staggering $36 million since 2016. It is worth noting this is just what we were able to trace and may not reflect the whole picture.”
The figure relates to illegal financial movements from the ministry of finance and economic planning and from the National Revenue Authority, she said to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
“Shockingly, these South Sudanese bodies have been aided and abetted in these crimes by a number of international corporations and multinational banks.”
Geneva
High-ranking politicians and bureaucrats in South Sudan have siphoned off at least $36 million in public funds, sometimes with the connivance of international corporations and banks, a UN commission said on Wednesday.
The report by the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan came six days after President Salva Kiir fired the country’s finance minister, the head of the tax-gathering National Revenue Authority as well as the director of the state-owned oil company.
“Our Commission has uncovered brazen embezzlement by senior politicians and government officials, together with entities linked to the government,” the panel’s chairperson, Yasmin Sooka, said.
“We can reveal the misappropriation of a staggering $36 million since 2016. It is worth noting this is just what we were able to trace and may not reflect the whole picture.”
The figure relates to illegal financial movements from the ministry of finance and economic planning and from the National Revenue Authority, she said to the UN’s Human Rights Council.
“Shockingly, these South Sudanese bodies have been aided and abetted in these crimes by a number of international corporations and multinational banks.”
