Sudan anti-graft committee leader released on bail

The authorities released Wajdi Saleh, the leader of the Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC)* yesterday, as well as Tayeb Osman, Babiker Feisal, Mohamed Saati, and Mohamed El Faki. The ERC leader’s bail was set at SDG 15 million.

Among other ERC members, the former Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Khalid Omar Yousef, was released a day prior on similar bail conditions imposed on him by the prosecution.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga’s Sudan Today programme, Wajdi Saleh’s defence lawyer, Mahmoud El Shazly, said they appealed the bail conditions set against him, due to Saleh and Osman having their detention extended “under the pretext of investigating additional reports against them”.

The Emergency Lawyers stated that the prosecution demanded a bail of SDG 50 million from Feisal and Osman.

* The full name of the committee is the Committee for Dismantling the June 30 1989 Regime, Removal of Empowerment and Corruption, and Recovering Public Funds. It was established by the government of Abdallah Hamdok at the end of 2019 with the aim to purge Sudan of the remnants of the Al Bashir regime. Empowerment (tamkin) is the term with which the ousted government of Omar Al Bashir supported its affiliates by granting them far-going privileges, including government functions, the setting-up of various companies, and tax exemptions.