VZCZCXRO2558
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0456/01 0811442
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 221442Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6582
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000456 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG AND AF/RSA 
PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR AFR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2017 
TAGS: PGOVSU PINR KDEM SU
SUBJECT: GOSS FINANCE MINISTER SUSPENDED OVER CORRUPTION 
CHARGES, OTHER INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING 
 
REF: A. 06 KHARTOUM 02227 
 
     ¶B. 07 KHARTOUM 0234 
 
Classified By: DCM FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) Finance 
Minister Arthur (Akuien) Chol was suspended following 
months of speculation about his alleged involvement in a 
government vehicle purchasing scandal.  Akuien is the most 
senior GOSS official to be implicated in the ongoing 
corruption scandals involving key members of the Sudan 
People,s Liberation Movement (SPLM).  GOSS President Salva 
Kiir has faced mounting pressure to get rid of his FinMin, 
which reached a peak in during the February Yei party 
meeting.  The investigation of Foreign Minister Lam Akol,s 
alleged involvement with an opposition party and militias 
is also ongoing and could lead to changes in that 
portfolio.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  The other shoe finally dropped on FinMin Akuien as he 
was relieved of his duties by President Kiir on March 17 
after months of corruption allegations in his ministry. 
Akuien,s position will be filled by the current Minister of 
Parliamentary Affairs, Gabriel (Changson) Change, pending 
the outcome of the investigation.  The Under Secretary in 
the Finance Ministry and several directors in Finance and 
Customs were previously investigated and arrested late last 
year.  All but the Under Secretary were cleared of 
corruption charges stemming from a scheme to defraud the 
GOSS of millions of dollars by inflating the price of 
government-purchased vehicles. 
 
¶3.  These vehicles were reportedly procured by a sole 
agent, Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Martin Malual Arop, an affluent 
businessman associated with the National Congress Party 
(NCP), and former State Minister in the Federal Ministry of 
Cabinet Affairs.  Arop too was recently arrested, but 
posted bail, returned to Khartoum and is widely believed to 
be working deals to evade prosecution. 
 
¶4.  The beleagured Akuien was bitterly attacked for 
mishandling GOSS resources during the 2007 budget debates 
in the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly.  He also has 
been in a public feud with SPLM Secretary General Pagan 
Amum over alleged misappropriation of some of the USD 60 
million Khartoum provided to the SPLM following the January 
2005 signing of the CPA, and prior to the inauguration of 
the GOSS the following July.  With these controversies and 
the vehicle scandal (reftel), the FinMin,s removal has been 
widely called for and expected.  Akuien has long been seen 
as a Kiir supporter and the GOSS president was facing 
growing criticism from within the party and the public for 
perceived delays in acting on the accusations against 
Akuein. 
 
¶5.  The future of Foreign Minister Lam Akol is less 
certain, but equally as problematic for Kiir, if not more. 
At the SPLM,s Interim National Council (INC) meeting in Yei 
last month, Kiir established the Upper Nile Investigation 
Committee to look into the validity of the allegations that 
Akol was a leader and financier of an opposition party and 
militias (reftel).  A member of that committee told the CG 
that he would be in Malakal (Upper Nile) next week to begin 
gathering information from local leaders, but that 
preliminary indications were that Akol was indeed involved 
in such activities.  Should the evidence be compelling, 
Kiir will again be forced to deal with a key party member, 
albeit a recalcitrant one.  Removing Akol from his post as 
Foreign Minister , however, will require the consent by 
President of the Republic, Omar Al Bashir, because of Akol, 
s position as a member of the Government of National 
Unity.  The SPLM will be faced with the choice of replacing 
Akol and abandoning the FM portfolio as set up under the 
Power Sharing Agreement, or seeking a different portfolio 
in the GNU. 
 
¶6.  Reportedly Kiir is also contemplating changes in the 
military to strengthen his loyalists and there are reports 
of an arrest of a senior military Deputy Chief of Staff and 
the sacking of the Head of Military Intelligence in the 
SPLA (septel). 
 
¶7.  Comment: Kiir has difficult decisions to make to keep 
the ethnic balance and deal with competing loyalties among 
his supporters and those of the late Dr. John Garang within 
the GOSS and SPLM/A.  To date, Kiir has shown himself adept 
at holding his complex mixture of competing groups 
together.  These recent changes and those in the offing 
will indeed test his skills further. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000456  002 OF 002 
 
 
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