Sudan’s finance ministry accused of hiding SDG16 billion

The Sudanese Ministry of Finance is accused of hiding SDG16 billion pounds in liabilities from its financial statements, according to a report by Sudan’s Inspector General. The head of the auditing body El Tahir Abdel Gayoum said in his report his office is in the process of tracking down the money, which was discovered when reviewing the central bank’s records. Other irregularities as noted in the report, include that ministries retained funds destined to the finance ministry. These comprised $12.1 million in hard currency. Additionally, ten government units are spending money outside the budget and some government agencies continued to keep consultants whose contracts have not been renewed and had terminated employees who remained on the payroll long after they left. The report also revealed the existence of SDG451.9 million in obligations owed by the ministries of Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs and Public Administration at the Ministry of Finance and Customs that has been carried over for years.  It also accused certain influential figures in the government of directly awarding bids to people linked to them using higher prices than market prices, without writing contracts to protect the interests of the ministries in question.  (Source: Sudan Tribune)File photo