Foreign Minister Ovidio Pequeno was in the United States and not available for comment, Lusa cited a Foreign Ministry source as saying.
Sao Tome Foreign Minister Ovidio Pequeno faces accusations he made unauthorized use of $450,000 in Moroccan foreign aid. He was in the United States and unavailable for comment, the Associated Press said.
File Photo
Both the Associated Press and the Portuguese news agency Lusa have stories on what appears to be a major scandal brewing for the Prime Minister's government.
Under Sao Tome's parliamentary system, members of the president's Cabinet are nominated by the party in power - in this case, a coalition opposed to President Fradique de Menezes - and approved by the President.
As foreign minister, Pequeno is a key figure in the Joint Ministerial Council that governs the Nigeria-Sao Tome Joint Development Authority and awards in the Joint Development Zone. He was leader of the national delegation that approved awards to ERHC Energy last May.
If his political problems precipitate his replacement on the JMC, there could be unknown consequences for further delays in the approval of the Production Sharing Contracts that have been pending since November.
The Lusa article is the fuller one and comes up first, below:
Sao Tome: FM Pequeno under investigation in alleged foreign aid scandal
Sao Tome, Jan. 3 (Lusa) - An "urgent inquiry" will be ordered into allegations that Sao Tome and Principe's foreign minister transferred foreign aid funds abroad without authorization, Prime Minister Maria do Carmo Silveira said Tuesday.
In comments to Lusa, Silveira, who also serves as finance minister, said a newspaper report of wrongdoing by Foreign Minister Ovídio Pequeno had taken her by "surprise".
"We will open an inquiry with urgent character and then we will comment", she told Lusa, declining to elaborate further.
The islands' bimonthly Ecuador newspaper reported at the weekend that Pequeno had first transferred euros 450,000 of Moroccan aid to an embassy bank account in Gabon and then begun "spending the money" on "the purchase of goods" through additional transfers to European bank accounts without Silveira's consent.
Pequeno was not immediately available for comment.
A Foreign Ministry source told Lusa he was currently on vacation in the United States.
As finance minister, the prime minister would normally have to authorize the transfer abroad of the aid funds that Morocco released to Sao Tome on Oct. 10.
Allegations of high-level corruption contributed to the fall of four governments in the past five years and have hobbled the process of awarding offshore oil blocks Sao Tome shares with Nigeria.
The Gulf of Guinea islands face a series of elections this year, including legislative and presidential polls.
RCN/SAS.
Here is the AP Story, which apparently first broke the news:
Sao Tome prime minister orders inquiry into alleged foreign
aid scandal
SAO TOME, Sao Tome and Principe (AP) _ The prime minister
of this poor West African country said Tuesday she has
ordered an urgent inquiry into allegations her foreign
minister placed international aid money in overseas bank
accounts without authorization.
Maria do Carmo Silveira said she was unaware of any
wrongdoing by Foreign Minister Ovideo Pequeno and declined
to comment further until the inquiry was completed.
Pequeno was out of the country and was not available for
comment.
The scandal is the latest to shake this island nation
where corruption claims have contributed to the collapse of
four governments in five years and delayed efforts to
develop offshore oil reserves.
Weekly paper Ecuador alleged in last weekend's edition
that Pequeno gave instructions for ¤450,000 (US$535,000) in
aid from Morocco to be deposited in Libreville, Gabon, and
transferred from there to accounts in Europe. The minister
failed to inform Sao Tome's financial authorities of the
transfers, the report claimed.
No comments:
Post a Comment