President Salva Kiir has issued a decree suspending two officials from his office on Thursday and directing the National Security Service to investigate them in relation to a corruption scandal involving alleged acts of forgery of Kiir’s signature.
Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that the president suspended Chief Administrator Mayen Wol and Executive Director Yel Luol following an incident in which an official by the name of Agou allegedly forged the president’s signature in order to access funds.
Radio Tamauzj reported on 4 June that the mentioned official named ‘Agou’ was a National Security Service officer seconded to the presidency and serving in an administrative role.
Ateny explained yesterday that Mayen and Yel were suspended for “reasons related to an investigation of… a man arrested from the Security.”
Asked about missing funds, he denied this saying, “There was no money that went missing.” He also noted that the senior officials were suspended and not removed “to allow the opportunity for investigation. There was no theft at all.”
However, other government sources indicated that public resources have been lost.
Kiir also has appointed Bol Wek Agoth to serve in place of Mayen Wol and Rizik Dominic in place of Yel Luol. Reportedly, the suspended presidency officials have not been detained but they are effectively under house arrest.
The suspended officials are due to appear before of a panel of investigators to answers questions regarding what they know about alleged forgery, which led to the loss of funds.