Wednesday July 27 2016
President Omar al-Bashir speaks during a meeting upon his arrival in
El-Fasher, in North Darfur on April 1, 2016. The president of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) is facing calls to resign after it
emerged that she may have received financial rewards said to be in
millions of dollars to ensure the indictment of al Bashir. PHOTO | AFP
LONDON
The president of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) is facing calls to resign after it
emerged that she may have received financial rewards said to be in
millions of dollars to ensure the indictment of Sudanese President Omar
al Bashir, reports the London Evening Post.
The
paper says that between 2004 and 2015, Argentinian-born ICC President
Judge Silvia Alejandra Fernández de Gurmendi allegedly received into her
private bank accounts at Banco Popular in the Virgin Islands, the First
Caribbean Bank in the Bahamas and the Congregation B’nai Israel
unexplained funds mounting to over $17million that was allegedly used to
bribe witnesses that enabled the ICC to indict the Sudanese leader.
The
funds are alleged to have been channelled through Judge de Gurmendi’s
accounts by Barting Holding Ltd, Atlantic Corporation, Genesis
International Holdings and Napex International, all of which are
offshore financial companies, who allegedly made wire transfers ranging
from $150,000-$250,000 to the judge’s bank accounts.
It
is alleged that these funds were made available to Judge de Gurmendi
during the time that President Bashir was under investigation and the
ICC was looking for evidence to indict him.
It has been
further alleged that funds channelled through Judge de Gurmendi’s
accounts were allegedly distributed by her to groups in Darfur including
the Sudan Liberation Movement, formerly the Darfur Liberation Front
founded by Abdul Wahid al Nur and others in 2002.
Appointed ICC President in March last year, Ms de Gurmendi is
alleged to have used the funds to ‘recruit, coach and fake evidence and
witnesses to testify against President Bashir’.
The
scandal has led to Pan African Forum Chief Dr David Nyekorach Matsanga
to call upon Judge de Gurmendi to resign from her position.
He argued that it was improper for an ICC judge to receive unexplained colossal sums of money which outmatch her annual salary.
ALLOW PROPER INVESTIGATIONS
He
added that her resignation would allow proper investigations to take
place at OTP hence an account on how she continued to receive large sums
of money into her private accounts from 2004, the year Sudan President
Bashir was indicted by the court on charges of crimes against humanity,
to 2015.
Mr Matsanga argued that the indictment against
President Bashir now looks to have been carried out through the
corrupting of senior ICC officials.
“We thought ICC was created to catch dictators in Africa but instead it’s witch hunting,” relented Matsanga.
He
added that on the directives of the then UN Secretary General Koffi
Anan, former ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo was handpicked to
be the ICC chief prosecutor to execute what he described as “Anan’s plan
to molest Africa”, which he said has been internationally exhibited by
the mode of investigation employed so far in African cases at the ICC in
The Hague.
Citing ICC investigations in Sudan, Kenya,
Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Libya and Egypt during Ocampo’s tenure as ICC chief prosecutor, Dr
Matsanga said he has already provided evidence to the ICC that show
Ocampo’s involvement in Bashir’s case.
“We have a huge dossier of evidence against Ocampo and others that worked with him,” he said.
He
added that the evidence he has acquired includes video and audio tape
evidence as well as bank statements that show the movement of huge sums
of money to buy witnesses in order to facilitate the case against Gen
Bashir. Attempts to get comment on the claims from the ICC bore no
fruit.
Read more: http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/ICC-boss-accused-of-receiving-bribe-to-fix-Bashir/1066-3316962-11l9t9t/index.html
Read more: http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/ICC-boss-accused-of-receiving-bribe-to-fix-Bashir/1066-3316962-11l9t9t/index.html
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