NBGs governor launches bid to recover stolen govt assets

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: 48 mins ago

Governor Simon Ober Mawut. (Photo: NBGS/Facebook).

Northern Bahr El Ghazal Governor Simon Ober Mawut has issued a one-week ultimatum to individuals in the state who may have purchased government assets from the previous administration to hand them over or face confiscation.

The government assets in question, including vehicles, tractors and generators must be returned to the Asset Recovery Committee with the right documentation, the governor said.

“Governor Mawut announced a one-week ultimatum to anyone who had purchased government assets such as vehicles, tractors, or generators—from the previous administration,” the statement from his office said.

“They should report to the Asset Recovery Committee with the appropriate documentation before the designated deadline of Wednesday, October 16th, 2024.”

Mawut said if the ultimatum elapses while the assets are not recovered, a confiscation order will be issued and enforced.

The Governor warned that “no legal or political barriers” will hinder the process of recovering misappropriated government assets.

Transparency International’s 2023 corruption index ranked South Sudan as the second most corrupt country in the world along with Syria and Venezuela as Somalia topped the list.

The country was ranked 177th out of 180 countries after scoring 13, out of a scale of 100, while Somalia scored 11 and plunges to the bottom of the list for the second year in a row.

The global corruption watchdog says a poor score likely indicates widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs.