On paper, South Sudan is Africa’s youngest democracy. In reality, South Sudan is the world’s most ruthless Kleptocracy. Kleptocracies typically involve a rapacious ruling class that embezzles funds from the public till to enrich itself at the expense of the wider population. Leaders in some Kleptocracies make a show of offering honest service to the people.
According to a damning new report released by The Sentry, an American watchdog group founded by actor George Clooney, South Sudan’s political and military leaders have decided to do away with such pretenses all together and set up a Kleptocracy in its purest form. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, South Sudan’s, is a “government of the corrupt elite, by the corrupt elite, for the corrupt elite.” As John Prendergast and J R Mailey, two of the people closely involved in the investigation that produced the explosive report put it, grand corruption in South Sudan is not a not a bug in the system, it’s a feature.
J R Mailey: "I've never seen anything so brazen in my time as an investigator."
— David Smith (_at_SmithInAmerica) September 12, 2016
Prendergast: In a kleptocracy, corruption isn't an aberration, it is at the core of the system.— David Smith (_at_SmithInAmerica) September 12, 2016
Making a killing from war
The Sentry report – entitled “War Crimes Shouldn’t Pay” – is chock full of explosive revelations. One revelation that is bound to have wide-felt reverberations in the region is the degree to which South Sudan’s leaders have for years used financial institutions in Kenya and Uganda to siphon plundered wealth. The stolen wealth is then used to buy upmarket residential and commercial properties in Nairobi and Kampala, right under the the noses of presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni, two East African leaders who know better than most the human carnage that the conflict in South Sudan has produced.
The report details various million dollar transactions done by South Sudan’s leaders through Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which appears to be the bank of choice for the country’s elite. For example, the report shows how Gen Malek Reuben Riak, the South Sudan army’s deputy chief of staff for logistics, transacted $3 million through his personal account with the Kenyan bank between 2012 and 2016. Gen Malek’s annual salary is $32,000.
The stolen wealth is then used to buy upmarket residential and commercial properties in Nairobi and Kampala, right under the the noses of presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni
A more egregious example, because he was subject to United Nations financial sanctions at the time, is that of army field commander Gen Gabriel Jok Riak. Though KCB should have known better with a little due diligence, it allowed him to transact $367,000 through his personal account. How Gen Jok Riak managed to get his hands on such impressive sums on an annual salary of $35,000 is explained somewhat by the apparently shady dealings of another company incorporated in Kenya, Dalbit International.
Dalbit transferred $308,524 to Gen Jok Riak’s account but it denies any wrong doing. It claims that it was merely reimbursing the general for a fuel supply deal that didn’t go through. “This was neither a business transaction nor relationship between Dalbit and the General,” argues the company.
In its report, The Sentry is reluctant to exonerate the Kenyan companies from wrong doing in the transactions. The fact is they are a vital cog in machine that is facilitating endless conflict in South Sudan while helping to protect the leaders and their families from the consequences of their actions:
“The hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from multinational oil and construction companies that apparently passed through the accounts of Gen Malek Reuben Riak and Gen Gabriel Jok Riak raise serious questions; whether they know it or not, companies that make payments to those responsible for looting and killing in South Sudan play an integral part in facilitating the violent kleptocracy,” reads the reporting.
“The banks that processed the transactions, meanwhile, also play a role. These banks, either wittingly or unwittingly, have facilitated the apparent ability of government officials to divert significant sums that could be used to benefit some of the poorest people in the world.”
The fact is they are a vital cog in machine that is facilitating endless conflict in South Sudan while helping to protect the leaders and their families from the consequences of their actions
The good life
In careful detail, the report reveals the extent to which the families of South Sudan’s top leaders have turned Nairobi and Kampala into playgrounds even as a bloody civil war has raged back home. With photographic evidence, the report does a masterful job of illustrating how the families of the butchers and looters of South Sudanese are living in the kind of ostentatious excess that would make Caligula blush.
For the families of South Sudan’s leaders, money is no object. With the help of lawyers and bankers, the leaders have set up opaque financial machines to funnel funds to the accounts of their children and spouses. Salva
Kiir’s healthy brood, in particular, appears to have its fingers in a lot of pies. This includes a 12-year-old son who displays a precocious appetite for “investments”.“How do President Kiir’s children afford to live in such apparent luxury? Corporate records for Combined Holding Limited (CHL), a South Sudanese holding company incorporated in February 2016, provide one clue. These records reveal basic information about the company: the date of incorporation, names of shareholders, their contact information and a copy of their passport.”
With photographic evidence, the report does a masterful job of illustrating how the families of the butchers and looters of South Sudanese are living in the kind of ostentatious excess that would make Caligula blush
“One of CHL’s shareholders is a 12-year-old child with the surnames “Salva Kiir Mayardit” whose passport lists his occupation as “Son of President.” But, this hardly makes this child unique among members of President Kiir’s immediate family. In total, The Sentry found that at least seven of President Kiir’s children have held stakes in a wide range of business ventures, especially in the extractive and financial sectors.”
Having easy access to money means that Kiir’s child want for nothing. That includes the best education the world has to offer, international holidays and partying at the Villa Rosa Kempinski, the pricey hotel where President Barack Obama stayed when he visited Kenya in 2015.
“One of his [Kiir’s] children posted photos and videos on social media showing a vacation throughout Europe with stops in Paris, Munich, Oslo, and Milan. Social media accounts reveal several of the same children of the president and their friends riding jet skis, driving in luxury vehicles, partying on boats, clubbing and drinking in the Villa Rosa Kempinski—one of Nairobi’s fanciest and most expensive hotels—all during South Sudan’s current civil war.