Accused officials brought to the Court of Appeal in Mogadishu

Officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Somalia who were accused of corruption were brought before the Court of Appeal of Banadir region today, they were sentenced to various terms last year for corruption charges.

The Banaadir Regional Court sentenced five Treasury and CBS officials to varying jail terms ranging from one to nine years last September for corruption, misuse of official documents, and embezzlement of funds.

However, Many defendants presented their arguments to establish their innocence before the court as the court announced it will Start the hearing proceedings of the accused officials very soon.

Abdirahman Abdikarin Ibrahim who served as the head of foreign licensing at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs got the severest sentence-9 years and was permanently barred from holding public office. He was among those officials who were reported to have fled the country when police started arresting suspects.

The court also sentenced Abukar Mohamed Ali, the head of revenue collection for the Ministry of Finance at Aden Adde Airport to eight years in prison and also declared him unfit to hold office forever.

Sabir Hassan Abdinur who headed the Visa Extension and Verification in the Department of Immigration was slapped with a three-and-a-half-year jail term. The director of foreign affairs in the Department of Immigration Abdullahi Mohamud Osoble and his deputy Omar Maalin Noor were each handed one-year jail terms.

Mohamed Aden Abdullahi, who is the manager of the Central Bank at Aden Adde airport branch was sentenced to 8 months in prison.