A United Nations panel accuses President Hassan and a U.S. law firm of conspiring to divert Somali people's assets recovered abroad

[Admin]

 

(Reuters) - A United Nations panel that monitors compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia has accused the country's president, a former minister, and a U.S. law firm of conspiring to divert Somali assets recovered abroad, according to a new report.

 

The Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, an 8-person committee, disclosed the findings in a confidential report to the U.N. Security Council's Somalia/Eritrea sanctions committee. Reuters reviewed a copy of the 37-page document.

 

The U.N. Monitoring Group said the information it has gathered so far "reflects exploitation of public authority for private interests and indicates at the minimum a conspiracy to divert the recovery of overseas assets in an irregular manner."

 

Most of the overseas assets were frozen at the outset of the civil war in 1991 and include cash and gold held in banks during two decades of chaos and conflict in Somalia, as well as government properties on foreign soil.

 

What the monitors describe as a conspiracy involved the U.S.-based law firm Shulman Rogers, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his office, former foreign minister Fawzia Yusuf H. Adam, as well as two other individuals whom the monitors said acted as liaisons between Shulman Rogers and Somalia.

 

If the findings are accurate, the monitors' report could cast a pall over President Mohamud and potentially scare off foreign donors who have pledged billions to rebuild his shattered nation after two decades of chaos.

 

All those accused of involvement in the plan to divert assets have denied any wrongdoing. Several accused the chairman of the Monitoring Group, Jarat Chopra, of dubious investigative methods and making baseless assertions.

 

Former foreign minister Adam, who is now a lawmaker in the Somali parliament, said she never profited from the Shulman Rogers contract and that she had not pressured Yassur Abrar, Somalia's former central bank governor. "As a foreign minister, my role was to build the image of Somalia, not to conspire and defame my name and that of my government."

 

The president's office said it could not comment in detail on the allegations in the report because it has not been made public.

 

Shulman Rogers reacted strongly to the Monitoring Group's report about its role in the alleged conspiracy - which it has not seen - as well as the group's assessment that the arrangements for recovering Somali assets were "contrary to the public good." Jeremy Schulman said "the public good of Somalia has been well served by the work we have done." He blamed the findings in the report on the group's Chairman Chopra, saying he was not a “reliable source for truthful information about the goings-on in Somalia.”

 

Chopra said he stood by the group's findings and declined to comment further.

 

In February, Reuters reported on some of the findings that have now been raised in the Monitoring Group's report. The Reuters story focused on last year's resignation by Somalia's central bank governor, which threw Western donors into a quandary over supporting a government they need to fight al Qaeda's local allies.

 

A 2013 U.N. Monitoring Group report said individuals in Mohamud's government used the Somali central bank as a personal "slush fund", with an average 80 percent of withdrawals made for private purposes. The presidency and the then-central bank governor Abdusalam Omer have strongly denied that accusation..

 

In its latest report, the Monitoring Group said that "a complex architecture of multiple secret contracts, which defied a separation of powers between the Presidency and the Central Bank, created the opportunity and rationalization for the misappropriation of public resources."

 

"'Pie-cutting' of overseas assets by those involved in the project entailed retention of excessive percentages and direct payments from recovered assets as well as attempts to circumvent deposits in the Central Bank of Somalia," it added.

FLED FROM MOGADISHU

Abrar, the former central bank governor who was also a former Citigroup vice president, quit last October after seven weeks on the job, alleging she had been pressured to sign a contract with Shulman Rogers that she feared could invite corruption at the central bank.

 

According to the new report, she sent her resignation from Dubai after fleeing from Mogadishu out of fear for her safety.

 

The Monitoring Group said it had followed up on a number of Abrar's allegations and her concerns about the contract and the planned scheme for the recovery of Somalia's overseas assets.

 

One of her main worries, the monitors said, was a clause in a July 2013 contract with Shulman Rogers that gave the law firm a bonus of 5 percent of recovered assets in addition to its fees and for Shulman Rogers to retain a further 6 percent of recovered assets for undefined costs and expenses.

 

"Ms. Abrar considered this clause for undefined costs and expenses to be for hidden fees and ultimately understood that it was meant as a side payment to be divided two percent each between Foreign Minister Adam, Musa Haji Mohamed Ganjab and Abdiaziz Hassan Giyaajo Amalo," the report said.

 

However, the Shulman Rogers contract, reviewed by Reuters, does not state that any individuals would be paid from the 6 percent clause.

 

The U.N. Monitoring Group report alleges that Amalo, a U.S. citizen of Somali descent, and Ganjab were government advisers who also acted as facilitators who were “serving as a regular channel between Shulman Rogers and the President”.

 

A Shulman Rogers representative vehemently denied that the firm had paid or sought to pay any government officials.

 

Ganjab, a Somali businessman, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Amalo told Reuters in an emailed statement that he was never a government adviser and dismissed allegations against him as "false and malicious".

 FEARS OF DIVERSION OF FUNDS

The monitors said Abrar raised her concerns about the 6 percent contract clause with the president in September 2013.

 

"The President informed her that Adam, Ganjab and Amalo had worked hard for their money and that they had earned and deserved the commission of six percent," the report said.

 

"Abrar appealed to the President to reconsider his support for this, but he simply thanked her and asked her to read through the contract," according to the report.

 

Abrar never signed off on the contract for Shulman Rogers. The report said she had also been pressured by the then-deputy finance minister to open a bank account in Dubai against her wishes that she feared could be used for the diversion of Somali funds. Abrar resigned without opening it.

 

After consulting with the World Bank, the Somali president's office said in a statement to Reuters that it revoked a power of attorney it had granted to Shulman Rogers in May and was renegotiating its contract with the law firm.

 

"International advice will continue to be solicited as the national asset recovery proceeds," the statement added.

 

Source: Reuters

http://www.somaliaonline.com/a-united-nations-panel-accuses-president-hassan-and-a-u-s-law-firm-of-conspiring-to-divert-somali-peoples-assets-recovered-abroad/

[Holac]

“The President informed her that Adam, Ganjab and Amalo had worked hard for their money and that they had earned and deserved the commission of six percent,” the report said. “Abrar appealed to the President to reconsider his support for this, but he simply thanked her and asked her to read through the contract,” according to the report.

 

loooooooooool. His close relatives Adam, Ganjab and Amalo worked hard for the 6%?????? This is an unspeakable crime against million of Somalis on the cusp of starvation.

 

I am losing any kind of hope for this country.

 

 

[DoctorKenney]

<cite>

@Holac

said:</cite>

loooooooooool. His close relatives Adam, Ganjab and Amalo worked hard for the 6%?????? This is an unspeakable crime against million of Somalis on the cusp of starvation.

 

I am losing any kind of hope for this country.

 

Split it up.

 

If we can't live together, then we might as well go our separate ways and live apart.

 

Somalis (and Somalilanders) view the government as a means to enrich themselves. If a Somali from so-and-so Clan reaches political office, then he immediately looks at this appointment as an opportunity to enrich himself and his family. This man was gaajo his entire life, now he wants a piece of the pie.

 

Instead of going into business to enrich yourself like any honest man would, these Somali politicians view politics as a way to get rich quick.

 

It's a serious cultural problem we have.

 

There's no honor amongst these men. No honor or integrity at all.

[DoctorKenney]

I think Hassan Sheikh knows there's no possible way he'll return to power in 2016 so he's trying to benefit as much as he can from his current position as President.

 

The Western powers, the Turks, and the Somalis won't allow him to return. He's lost all credibility and many of those Somalis who "support" this President only do so out of respect for the Office itself, but they have no respect for the man sitting in the Office.

 

I hope we Somalis learn a lesson from all this, and that we CLOSELY scrutinize anyone who runs for President in 2016. Had we elected Abdiweli Gaas or Abdurahman Baadiyow, then maybe we would be in a far better position today

[ElPunto]

There is no parliament. Parliament holds the executive accountable. An absent drunk is the speaker of the parliament. This organ of governance has absolutely no relevance. Even members from areas that would seem to be antagonistic to Culusow and his thieving band are unable to coalesce together on a regular basis to demand accountability/embarrass Culusow/burnish their own political careers and name recognition. Anytime - a mooshin is tabled - the drunk and his master disband the naked attempt at extortion with money and threats.

 

There is no media. Anything that resembles a responsible media is completely absent. No one in Mogadishu asks Culusow and company any hard questions - no one covers the failures and missteps vigorously and relentlessly. No one seems to bother to do any investigating or real reporting. Crap opinions and useless controversy from farting politicians and pseudo politicians like Faisal Warabe and Ahmed Diriye get airtime and are sought out. Useless nonsense is reported constantly - ie a training is held in Puntland and hebel minister opens the training. This training is organized by, funded by, managed and run by NGOs and other international donors. What is this minister doing there? And why is it useful to mention him or the government in light of this reality - they are irrelevant.

 

Such is the state of the country.

[Mooge]

niyoow ninkan calol weyna horta? wax ma deqan miya

 

qoslaye has destroyed somalia's fabric niyoow. he turned somalia into wasteland. corruption used to be shameful thing but qosyale turned into family feeding fashionable act. looool.

 

 

[xabad]

<cite>

@DoctorKenney

said:</cite>

Split it up.

 

If we can't live together, then we might as well go our separate ways and live apart.

 

Somalis (and Somalilanders) view the government as a means to enrich themselves. If a Somali from so-and-so Clan reaches political office, then he immediately looks at this appointment as an opportunity to enrich himself and his family. This man was gaajo his entire life, now he wants a piece of the pie.

 

Instead of going into business to enrich yourself like any honest man would, these Somali politicians view politics as a way to get rich quick.

 

It's a serious cultural problem we have.

 

There's no honor amongst these men. No honor or integrity at all.

 

here is nice article regarding this titled:

After South Sudan: The Case to Keep Dividing Africa

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/07/after-south-sudan-the-case-to-keep-dividing-africa/241705/

 

Pierre Englebert, a professor of African politics at Claremont College, has called "Africa's secessionist deficit." And the deficit in question refers to living standards and development generally. Englebert found, in one of the most exciting recent academic projects in academic African studies, that the unwillingness to cut African nations down in size (in other words, to let new nations form) has "contributed to its underdevelopment."

 

The idea that Africa suffers from too few secessionist campaigns, too few attempts to carve a few large nations into many smaller ones, flies in the face of conventional wisdom. One of the truisms of African politics is that traditional borders, even when bequeathed by colonizers without the least sympathy for African political justice, ought to be respected. The cult of colonial borders has been a cornerstone not only of diplomacy between African nations but of the assistance programs of foreign governments and multinational non-governmental organizations. This is especially true for the U.S. and Europe, which spend billions on reconstructing failed states such as the Congo. But letting these countries reform into smaller nations might actually reduce conflict, increase economic growth, and cost less in foreign aid. That, by the way, is Englebert's argument in a nutshell in his paper, "Let's Stick Together: Understanding Africa's Secessionist Deficit," published in African Affairs in July 2005.

 

Every clan should have its own state, the nation state is not an organic somali concept but colonial imposition.

[DoctorKenney]

Xabad, if it's necessary that every major clan in Somalia acquires it's own state, then so be it. I'd much rather have a Somalia that's split into 6 or 7 small peaceful and prosperous nations then have 1 large nation that's perpetually at war.

 

But that's only if the civil war and the turmoil keeps going on and on and on....

 

Somalia already has a small population to begin with. If we were divided even further, some of the small nations will have literally like 1 million or 2 million people. Which is extremely manageable.

 

 

[burahadeer]

He is no different than the ones before or after.UN or NGOs get more than their piece of the pie...those blowing the whistle out maneuvered or is the turn of new UN technocrats to fill their pockets(they take turns on the loot).The powers that be will seat another of their own men,a long list one after another and each and every president will be brushed black ,image tarnished while the real looters in Nairobi and beyond siphon off.

Culusow & co left with crumbs.