In Sudan, traced Bashir regime assets ‘tip of iceberg’
Sudanese authorities have begun to recover billions of dollars of real estate illegally amassed by deposed ruler Omar Bashir’s regime, but other assets will be difficult to seize, experts say.
“Initial estimates indicate that the real estate and properties owned by the former regime ... range (in value) from $3.5 to $4 billion,” said Salah Manaa, a spokesman for a committee tasked with fighting corruption and dismantling the old regime.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” in terms of the total assets illicitly accumulated and hidden under Bashir’s rule, Manaa told AFP. Bashir ruled Sudan with an iron fist for 30 years, but was overthrown in April last year by the military during mass protests against him.
He has already been sentenced to two years detention in one corruption case — involving illegal possession of foreign currency — and is being held in Khartoum’s Kober Prison, on a range of other charges. The new anti-graft committee began work in December and is answerable to a powersharing government of civilians and generals that was established in August. Less than six months into its mandate, that committee is
SPEEDREAD
The new anti-graft committee began work in December and is answerable to a power-sharing government of civilians and generals that was established in August.
perusing a monumental paper trail on the former regime’s assets.
“The committee received large volumes of documents that filled three trucks,” said a source close to the committee, who requested anonymity. “Each will be rigorously scrutinized.”
The investigators have so far recovered hotels, farms, shopping centers, agricultural lands and other properties in Khartoum and other cities from the ex-leader’s relatives and aides.
Manaa said international experts will be brought in to help assess the assets’ value — a task that has not yet moved beyond guesstimates — before transferring their ownership to the finance ministry.
“The former regime’s corruption was extensive and diverse,” said Osman Mirghani, a Sudanese analyst and editor in chief of Al-Tayyar newspaper. He believes that Bashir’s circle hid some assets “with skill, which would require time and expertise (for authorities) to uncover.”