The Northern Bahr el Ghazal’s Anti-Corruption Commission Chairperson, Mr. Anei Rok, has vowed to sue the state government if it fails to take him to court.

Rok was briefly detained on 18 September 2022 and later released, days after he filed a report on mismanagement and embezzlement of public funds. According to him, the state government was misusing public funds without providing services to the people. 

Officials said Rok will be presented before a court of law to answer the allegations. 

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Rok said he has been waiting for a court date in vain. 

“I am still waiting for the court case and I told my people (his supporters) last week to wait for this week, When the government fails to take me to the court, I will open a court case against the ones who opened the case against me,” said Rok. “If they take me to the court, I will go to defend myself.” 

Sebastiano Uchan, the state minister of cabinet affairs, said the anti-corruption official is at loggerheads with only one official and not the entire state government. 

“The law must take its course and when he talks about against state government, that has big meaning. He doesn’t have a problem with the state government, but he has a problem with a particular person in the government, he shouldn’t generalize," Uchan clarified. 

The Aweil Community Based Organizations Forum (ACBOF)’s Executive Director Santino Deng Ngong, said, civil society groups have also been waiting for the commencement of the court case. 

Deng says all accused persons have a right to be granted bail but the law dictates that they must be presented before a court of law within 24 hours. 

“We were expecting that someone who has been arrested and bailed out after twenty-four hours and subsequently to be taken the court the following day or in the following week. Now, it is going to be almost two weeks without taking him to court. This is one of the delaying tactics that someone who is not ready to speed up the case takes,” said Deng.

The state anti-corruption chief claims that the monthly funds resulting from Personal Income Taxes (PIT) transferred from Juba to Aweil are SSP 2.2 Billion from local staff and USD 317, 000 from the staff of international humanitarian organizations. He further said that WFP pays USD 60,000 annually for renting stores in the state and that the state government collects another SSP 30 Million locally in revenues.