JUBA - 22 Mar 2016

Auditor testifies to court that South Sudan presidency without proper financial controls

South Sudan's presidency operated without proper financial controls and without proper procurement practices, an expert witness testified to the high court in Juba on Monday as the prosecution made its case against 16 officials at the president's office.

Sixteen administrative officers from the presidency went on trial last month after losing favor with President Kiir, including his top administrator and his office director.

The trial has opened a window into the functioning of the president's office.

In testimony yesterday, senior auditor Vanancio Logunu, the prosecution's second witness, told the high court that he and some of his colleagues in the audit chamber were asked by the Office of the President to audit financial transactions, including payment to companies, made by the chief administrator and executive director in the president' office.

“We were able to establish that financial procedures were not followed... There was no record of procurement procedures,” he told the court.

Logunu said they have found that Mayen Wol, Yel Luol, Nomad Agoth, Francis Yaki and other officials from the Bank of South Sudan were involved in the financial transactions.

He further explained that the method of procurement of goods and service for the Office of the President were found to be single source. He said these procurements did not follow proper guidelines for single source procurements.

The auditor also said they found evidence of “forgery of stamps and documents, cash payments for undelivered items in the office of president, duplication of payments base on fake documents using forged stamps.”

Logunu said that administrative officials John Agou, Mayen Wol and Yel Luol held the power to access money from the finance ministry and central bank in the name of the presidency, but that they abused this power for private gain.

The high court judge said the court will continue with the cross-examination of the prosecution witness on Thursday.