The newly appointed governor of South Sudan’s Wau State, Elias Waya Nyipuoc, has accused the former governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal State of misappropriation of public funds in the state.
Wau State is one of two successor states of Western Bahr al Ghazal, according to the Establishment Order issued by President Salva Kiir last October. In December, Kiir transferred the Governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal Rizig Zacharia to the governorship of Lol State, removing him from his position in Wau.
In a speech to local traders at Peace Hall in Wau town on Monday, Governor Nyipuoc alleged that he found all public coffers empty after auditing was made by his government. The newly appointed state official accused the former Finance Minister Lillian Valentino Rizig, an ally of the former governor, of withdrawing six million South Sudanese pounds by cheque.
“When we checked the accounts everything was zero,” he said. “We found the current account was zero zero, and block account was zero zero. Even the deduction for pension fund was withdrawn by name – that is the former minister of finance and this money belongs to other employees,” he said.
Nyipuoc explained that the six million SSP was meant for a pension fund in the state, adding that the money had been saved after deductions from all civil servants. An amount of 1.6 million pounds collected as taxes from local traders was also misappropriated, according to the state governor.
He alleged that the former governor Rizig Zachariah had borrowed a lot of money from the state treasury and local traders, saying his government is currently trying to refund the money by deducting it from employees.
In a Tuesday statement, the former Finance Minister Lillian Rizig denied all accusations of embezzlement. Lillian explained that the money was withdrawn from banks for the service of citizens.
Radio Tamazuj could not reach Rizig Zachariah Hassan who is now governor of Lol State to comment on the matter, though his former finance minister reached out to Radio Tamazuj this morning promising to comment further on the matter.
File photo: Former Western Bahr al Ghazal Governor Rizig Zacharia