On Saturday, Judge El Sadig Abdelrahman formally indicted ousted President Omar Al Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years before being deposed by a military coup d’état on April 11, for illegal ownership of wealth and suspicious richness and possession of foreign currency. Al Bashir implicated the former director of his office – who has since been arrested – and testified that the Saudi Crown Prince was the source of the cash.
The decision to formally charge Al Bashir came after the accused former leader responded to questions from the court from a cage within the highly secured Judicial and Legal Science Institute in Khartoum. The court also weighed the testimony of several witnesses who were questioned last week.
As reported by Radio Dabanga in April, a substantial amount of cash was seized during a search of Al Bashir’s residence in Khartoum. In a statement at the time, the Senior Public Prosecutor Mutasim Mahmoud announced the seizure of $351 million, €6,7 million, £5.2 million, and SDG 5 billion ($105 million). Some of the cash found was shown to reporters. It had been packed in sacks designed for 50kg of maize meal.
Giving evidence for the prosecution last week, a detective testified that during questioning by investigators following his detention, Al Bashir admitted to receiving ‘millions of dollars’ from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi millions
At Saturday’s hearing, giving evidence himself for the first time, Al Bashir told the court that the money arrived in a private aircraft, through the director of the office of (Saudi Crown Prince) Mohammad bin Salman.
Read more at: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/deposed-sudan-dictator-al-bashir-officially-charged-by-khartoum-judge
