Angelina Teny forms committee to probe ministry of defense contracts after NSS warning

JUBA – South Sudan’s minister of defense and senior SPLM-IO member Angelina Teny has formed a committee to investigate suspicions against contracts given to companies by the ministry of defense after the National Security Service (NSS) said some companies were being paid without living up to contractual pledges.

In a confidential letter addressed to the chief of defense forces General Santino Deng Wol and obtained by Sudans Post on June 26, the Director-General of the Internal Security Bureau (ISB) at the NSS General Akol Koor Kuc revealed that some companies are obtaining money from the ministry of finance without legitimate contracts.

General Akol said a list of companies attached to the letter were being paid by South Sudan’s ministry of finance and economic planning without legitimate contracts and also do not adhere to the terms of the contracts they sign with the government.

“These Companies (list attached) are getting money from the Ministry of Finance without implementing their contractual agreements with the Ministry of Defense,” General Akol Koor wrote in the letter obtained by Sudans Post.

“In light of the above, I am obliged not to hesitate in recommending the need for these companies to be cleared by your esteemed Ministry before they are paid,” General Akol Koor wrote, before adding: “This is for your Comradeship further management.”

In a ministerial order on June 26, the minister of defense Angelina Teny formed a committee led by deputy minister of defense Chol Thon Balok to investigate the alleged practice and to find out if the contracts “were awarded in accordance with the applicable laws such as the procurement Disposal Regulation Act 2006, Contract Acts 2011, and Appropriation Act 2012.”

Teny also said the six-member committee will also “ascertain how the contracts made it to the Ministry of Finance and Planning for payment while there is an outstanding Council of Ministers resolution to defer the contracts as national debt.”