By: Yumoha Pasha
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The Hargeisa regional court has intervened in the case against the SLNTV finance officer.
The intervention comes in the form a court order to the auditor general’s officer to produce corruption related evidence against the detained Somaliland National TV Director of Adm/Finance Mr. Hasan Mohamed who has been in CID custody for a number of days.
The court order that gave the AG’s office four days to produce the evidence comes after the Auditor General asked it (Court) to hold Mr. Hasan in remand for 45 days while his office pursues investigations.
It is not yet clear if the Audit General Mr. Mahmoud Aw Abdi Ismail (Mahmoud Deere) will be able to provide the required maladministration evidence required by the court which has informed that failure to comply with the order will result in the release and reinstatement of jailed director of Administration and finance Mr. Hasan Mohamed.
At the same time the arrest and subsequent detention of TV station Administrator by the CID on orders of the Auditor General on corruption charges is not the only repercussions of the ongoing investigations by government financial watchdog.
Other victims include the SLNTV director Mr. Ahmed Suleiman Duhul and his representative in the United Kingdom Mr. Khadar Ali Gaas who were suspended from their posts and duties by the information minister Hon Abdi Yusuf Duale ‘Boobe’ who appointed the TV’s Director of programming as acting Station manager.
Theirs suspensions which were effected last Thursday are reported to be related to the two having instigated the ongoing investigation. Mr. Dhuuul and his colleague are said to have approached the Auditor General’s office with information of alleged malpractices at the ministry.
While regular checks by the Auditor General’s Office are necessary in order to ensure public funds are utilized accountably and transparently, a big question mark prevails as per the ability of the office to come up with a factual and impartial report if similar past activities of the body are a yardstick.
