South Sudan Minister of Cabinet Affairs Dr. Martin Elia Lomoro has accused the United States of targeting ministerial officials loyal to President Salva Kiir in a desperate push for regime agenda.
This comes after the High Court of Kenya, on request by the Kenyan Assets Recovery Agency, froze the bank accounts of Mr. Lomoro and stripped him of $460,000 on suspicions of opaque dealing and money laundering according to senior state counsel, Stephen Githinji, who filed the case on behalf of the agency.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the funds held by the respondent in the specified bank accounts are benefits, profits and or proceeds of crime obtained from a complex money laundering scheme and are liable to be forfeited to the state under the proceeds of crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2009,” the application read in part.
In response, Lomoro said the move was influenced by the American government which is bent on destabilizing and changing the regime of President Salva Kiir.
The Minister of Cabinet Affairs also called out Kenya to “come clean” on their stance on the targeted sanctions and arms embargo on South Sudan.
“This is a political case. You remember in December 2019 we were sanctioned, myself and General Kual Manyang Juk by the Americans, not the UN and you know the Americans want to change this regime, they want to change this government,” Lomoro said.
“And the Kenyan Assets Recovery Agency is using those sanctions. So they are actually implementing the American sanctions. Technically speaking, the behavior of the agency, which is like our anti-corruption agency here, means Kenya is underground implementing sanctions against South Sudan,” said Lomoro.
Lomoro, who is under U.S. sanctions since December 2019, denied the accusation and asked Kenya to be clear about their decision on whether they are backing the U.S. targeted sanctions or have any prove of the accusations labelled against him.
“That transfer is the one that the Kenyan Assets Recovery Agency is using to support its intention to implement the U.S. sanctions. Now, that is why they are entitled as a government of Kenya if they wish to support sanctions. That’s fine, but they must come clean.
“They have to say that we are doing this because we’re implementing U.S. sanctions. But if they accused me of money laundering, then they have to prove it,” Lomoro threatened.
The Minister of Cabinet Affairs questioned why Kenya took the decision when the UN did not support the American’s sanctions because of no evidence to warrant its implementation.
While the U.S. sanctions entail freezing of any U.S.-based assets held by the officials as well as prohibiting Americans from doing business with them, Dr. Lomoro said the sanctions were monetary-free.
Lomoro who has accounts with the Cooperative Bank of Kenya and its branch in South Sudan, said he will file a case immediately to challenge the agency in the East African Court to provide prove for freezing his accounts meant for his family sustenance claiming that his money was from legitimate sources of income.
They Minister also alleged that there were some Non-Governmental Organizations established on a spy mission to report on activities of government officials to foreign governments telling them to go hang as he will not be intimidated.
“There are also NGOs that are being used by the Americans. Some of them are NGOs who are actually spies, they spy on individuals, they report on us and they create stories so that they earn funding. They can go hang. I’m not going to be threatened,” he said.
Dr. Lomoro and the former Minister of Defense, Kuol Manyang Juk, President Kiir’s close allies, were blacklisted by the U.S. for perpetuating the war in South Sudan for their personal gains at the expense of millions of suffering South Sudanese population.