WikiLeaks cables: Sudanese president 'stashed $9bn in UK banks'

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Afua Hirsch, legal affairs correspondent
Friday December 17 2010 21.30 GMT

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has siphoned as much as $9bn out of his impoverished country, and much of it may be stashed in London banks, according to secret US diplomatic cables that recount conversations with the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court. Some of the funds may be held by the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, according to prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who told US officials it was time to go public with the scale of Bashir's theft in order to turn Sudanese public opinion against him.

"Ocampo suggested if Bashir's stash of money were disclosed (he put the figure at $9bn), it would change Sudanese public opinion from him being a 'crusader' to that of a thief," one report by a senior US official states. "Ocampo reported Lloyds bank in London may be holding or knowledgeable of the whereabouts of his money," the cable says. "Ocampo suggested exposing Bashir had illegal accounts would be enough to turn the Sudanese against him."

=snip=

Robert Palmer, a campaigner at anti-corruption organisation Global Witness, said: "$9bn may sound like an inconceivably large amount of money for the president of Sudan to control. But we have uncovered evidence of substantial funds being held in a European bank by an oil-rich country in the past, where the head of state had a worrying level of personal control over the funds. In Sudan's case, the figure is almost the same amount as has been transferred from north to south Sudan under the oil revenue sharing part of the comprehensive peace agreement since 2005."

In a remarkable series of exchanges, the cables also reveal how Sudan's mineral wealth had a direct bearing on the ICC proceedings against Bashir, as China balked at action against him that could harm its interests in the oil industry. "Ocampo said China, as long as it continues to have oil concessions in Sudan, does not care what happens to Bashir," one cable states.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-sudanese-president-cash-london

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Much more detail and embedded links to the cables in the original article.

[Elmore Furth]

1. Welcome to the tribal world the US was trying to deny

Tribalism exists everywhere.

[struggle4progress]

2. The story concerns speculative allegations made about two years ago. The ICC

has a warrant for Bashir's arrest for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. That is within the competence of the court. Allegations about fraud and money laundering are not necessarily within the court's jurisdiction

[Turborama]

7. Good news: "if confirmed, the funds could have big implications for victims of human rights abuses"

But experts said that if confirmed, the funds could have big implications for victims of human rights abuses in the county. Richard Dicker, head of international justice at Human Rights Watch, said: "If Bashir were to be tried and convicted, these funds could not just be frozen, but used as a source of reparations for victims … (of) horrific crimes in Darfur."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/17/wikileaks-sudanese-president-cash-london

By trying to make them seem like boring old gossip, you've made it clear you don't like seeing articles about the cables in LBN, even though they are actually newsworthy.

[bluesmail]

3. I cannot hold my breath much longer. Come on January, so I wonder why January?

I'm an older person. Cannot figure the January date. I have had hope in some/bodies like you, Wikileaks. If Wikileaks can't stop fascism, then who will? Seriously. Who Will?

[mrarundale]

4. Gosh there are sure a lot of evil dark skinned dictators

Ooh and this one is Islamic. Doesn't this story replay itself over and over as a distraction while the real looting is being done by the mineral/oil corproations and the banks, not to mention the fake "aid" organizations?

[Kaleko]

5. That's only too true.

I trust you've been reading William Engdahl's exposes too?

[Hannah Bell]

6. the dark skinned evil dictators are in the pay of the oil corps & big powers. if they weren't

they wouldn't be able to hold on to power.

it's a hand job all around.

[Turborama]

8. Where is race and/or religion mentioned in the Guardian article or the cable?

Apart from one of his defenders accusing the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court of being Islamophobic?

If you read the actual article you would have come accross commentary on the "real looting" you decry as being ignored.

"Fake NGOs"?

Wow! Where are you getting your talking points from?

Health fears as Sudan expels NGOs
Aid groups say their suspension will put thousands of Sudanese lives at risk.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/03/200935174114968814.html