Saturday, July 20, 2013
The governor of the
Central Bank of Somalia said on Thursday he had asked the United
Nations for help in conducting an independent audit of the
nascent institution after U.N. monitors described it as a "slush
fund" for private purposes.U.N. experts, who monitor Security Council sanctions on
Somalia and Eritrea, reported that money at the Central Bank of
Somalia was not used to run government institutions in the
war-torn Horn of Africa country and that an average 80 percent
of withdrawals were made for private purposes.
Central Bank Governor Abdusalam Omer denied allegations by
the U.N. experts that linked him to irregularities regarding
millions of dollars withdrawn from the bank, saying the charges
were malicious and baseless.
In a letter to the U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Nicholas
Kay, Omer said the allegations by the U.N. experts "undermine
the ongoing institution building efforts and leads to the loss
of public confidence in the capability and integrity of the
bank."
"As a public servant and the Governor of the Bank, it is my
obligation to understand and expose any misconduct associated
with the handling of public funds trusted to the Central Bank of
Somalia," Omer wrote in the letter, obtained by Reuters.
"It is to this end that I am writing to you to ask for
assistance in sponsoring an independent audit of the Central
Bank of Somalia," said Omer, 59, a dual Somali-U.S. national who
left Somalia at 16 and returned in January to run the bank in a
country with a shattered economy and broken financial system.
The U.N. Security Council discussed the experts' report
behind closed doors on Thursday and Deputy U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, said the 15-members
were "deeply troubled by some of the monitoring group's
findings."
"We also discussed the significant progress the Somalia
government has made as well as the challenges it still faces,
particularly in the areas of security sector reform, management
of public finances and strict compliance with sanctions
measures," he told reporters.
The United States is president of the U.N. Security Council
for July.
The overthrow of a dictator in 1991 plunged Somalia into two
decades of violent turmoil, first at the hands of clan warlords
and then Islamist militants, who have steadily lost ground since
2011 under pressure from an African Union military offensive.
Somalia was virtually lawless and unable to assert authority
until a Western-leaning government was elected last year.
$12 MILLION CANNOT BE TRACED
Omer said Transparency International, a global
non-governmental body which studies corruption around the world,
should be involved in an audit and a major objective should be
to review PricewaterhouseCoopers funds and government accounts
related to the Central Bank of Somalia.
The U.N. experts report had said that a fiduciary agency
managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers "could not ensure
accountability of funds once they reached the Somali government"
and that of $16.9 million transferred by PWC to the Central
Bank, $12 million could not be accounted be traced.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers has not responded to requests for
comment on the U.N. report.
Omer also asked that an audit investigate his involvement in
the transfer of the $16.9 million after the U.N. experts accused
him of being "key to the irregularities." The audit should
review the structure and operations of the Central Bank.
He said the Central Bank of Somalia could not afford any
setbacks "when we are diligently building the capacity of (the)
bank to promote financial stability leading to the much-needed
economic recovery of Somalia."
The U.N. experts report also accused Eritrea of undermining
stability in Somalia by paying political agents and a warlord
linked to Islamist militants to influence the Mogadishu
government.
"We encourage the Eritrean government to play a productive
role in the region," said Deputy U.S. Ambassador DeLaurentis.
The report said "Eritrean agent of influence Abdi Nur Siad
'Abdi Wal'" provided security for former ARS-Asmara (a Somali
Islamist network in Eritrea) leader Zakaria Mohamed Haji Abdi.
Zakaria described the reference to him in the U.N. experts
report as "tantamount to character assassination."
"I have no extremist links; I do not, never have and never
will have dealings with hit men or goons and I am not an agent
of any state. I am a law abiding Somali citizen," he said in a
statement. "During my time in Somalia, I live there peacefully,
without security services of any kind."
(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair. Editing by Christopher
Wilson)