KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will stand trial soon on corruption charges, while 41 former officials from his government are being investigated for suspected graft, the chief prosecutor said yesterday.
Bashir’s trial will be a test of how serious the country’s transitional military council is about trying to erase the legacy of Bashir, ousted in April after 30 years of autocratic rule that saw South Sudan secede and the economy deteriorate.
Chief prosecutor Alwaleed Sayed Ahmed Mahmoud said the former president would be referred for trial after a one-week period for objections expires.
“Forty-one criminal cases have been opened against symbols of the former regime, and measures to capture and investigate will completed next week,” he added in a news conference in Khartoum, without giving further details.
Bashir’s ouster followed months of protests that erupted in December over cash shortages and rising bread prices. Dozens of people were killed in the mostly peaceful demonstrations.
Earlier this week, the prosecutor’s office said it had completed an investigation into the former leader and charged him with offences related to “suspected illicit wealth and emergency orders.”
A judicial source said in April that military intelligence had searched Bashir’s home and found suitcases loaded with more than $351,000 and 6 million euros, as well as 5 million Sudanese pounds.
Bashir had already been charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters, and prosecutors have also ordered that he be questioned on suspicion of money laundering and terrorism financing.
