#UGANDA NEWS BRIEFINGz group updates - #Matsanga ‘used forged papers to fix #ICC president’
A Ugandan forged documents to fix bribery and money laundering
allegations against International Criminal Court President Silvia
Fernández de Gurmendi, the ICC has said.
According to the ICC, Mr David Nyekorach Matsanga forged invoices and
bank statements, and named bank account holders who either do not exist
or do not come from the country he cited.
The Ugandan had made the allegations in a case against Ms Gurmendi. He
had claimed that the ICC president received money to bribe witnesses for
the court to indict Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
He had alleged that Ms Gurmendi received the cash from Sudanese
organisations that were out to fix President Bashir using the court.
Mr Matsanga claimed Ms Gurmendi received into her private bank accounts
unexplained funds amounting to more than $17 million (Sh1.7 billion),
which were then used to bribe witnesses to indict President Bashir.
The ICC issued its first warrant of arrest against President Bashir on
March 4, 2009, and the second one on July 12, 2010, but he has not been
arrested yet by any signatory to the Rome Statute that established the
ICC.
In a statement, ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said the allegations had
been taken through the Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM) by the
institution and found to be false.
FORGED EVIDENCE
The IOM is an independent body established by the Assembly of States
Parties as an inspection, evaluation and investigation mechanism for the
ICC.
“These allegations concerning the supposed involvement of the president
with payments to Sudanese rebel groups are based on forged evidence and
are, therefore, demonstrably untrue,” Mr Abdallah said in a statement.
“Indeed, the only evidence offered by Mr Nyekorach Matsanga on this
supposed involvement is contained in an alleged invoice that was
confirmed to be forged by the entity that had issued it. The issuing
entity confirmed that the client and address details, which now include
the ICC president’s name, were altered on the invoice.”
The ICC said it had noted that it was not Mr Matsanga’s first time to criticise its officials.
Ms Gurmendi, an Argentinian who rose to the helm of the ICC in March
2015, was also accused of having money in several bank accounts, which
the IOM said was not evidence of misconduct.
“The president has in any event asserted that she does not have any
accounts with the institutions named in the report, or in the
jurisdiction named,” said the ICC in a statement.
Mr Matsanga has been a vocal anti-ICC activist. He has accused the court of using its processes to punish African leaders.
The Ugandan has also been a constant figure in the Kenyan cases against
the ICC, appearing in various talk shows criticising the court.
The ICC said the bank statements Mr Matsanga provided were forged and
were from individuals who did not even have any relations with Sudan.
“Further enquiries have been made by the IOM with the banks concerned,” said Mr Abdallah.
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