Ex-opposition official faces lawsuit for ‘pathetic attempt’ to tarnish Machar’s refutation – spokesman

JUBA – The office of South Sudan’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has said that it is about to file a criminal lawsuit against former opposition member, Thalage Wal Goch, for what it calls ‘a pathetic attempt’ to tarnish the image of Machar who is also the leader of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO).

This comes a day after Thalage said in a statement that he has launched a lawsuit against First Vice President Machar for failing to pay an eight-year-old loan which he said could not be settled given unsuccessful attempts by him to meet the main armed opposition leader on order to try to discuss how to settle the dispute.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Wednesday evening, Acting Press Secretary in the Office of the First Vice President, Puok Both Baluang, said Thalage has failed to present evident to support the claim that Machar had borrowed from him money and said the claim was an attempt to tarnish Machar’s refutation.

“When he was asked by the legal team in the office of the First Vice President to present witnesses so that the money can be paid back to him in case there is evidence, he said the loan was taken by the H.E the First Vice President only when they were the only ones presence,” Baluang said from Juba.

“This is a pathetic attempt to tarnish the good refutation of [First Vice President] H.E Dr. Riek Machar. He was also asked to present documents bearing signatures of him and H.E the First Vice President to prove his claim, he said the documents were lost during the July 2016 fighting in Juba,” Baluang added.

He then threatened that the legal team in the office of the First Vice President was working to draft a lawsuit against the former opposition official for the attempt to tarnish Machar’s image.