S. Sudan’s cabinet minister says citizens ‘celebrating’ Kenya account freeze have ‘little brains’

JUBA – South Sudan’s minister of cabinet affairs Martin Elia Lomuro whose Kenyan bank accounts were frozen by a Kenyan court this week is lashing out at South Sudanese he said are celebrating the decision by the Kenyan government to confiscate his money saying they have ‘little brains’.

Lomoro made the remarks in an interview published by Radio Tamazuj this afternoon in which he was asked quests related to the decision by Kenyan authorities to freeze his account in a money laundering case.

Lomuro who is under United States sanctions accused in his remarks the Kenyan government for supporting United States sanctions and said there is no evidence to support the claim that he is involved in the illegal activity.

“If they wish to support sanctions, they must come clean. But if they accuse me of money laundering, then they have to prove it. If you accuse somebody of money laundering, it means he has obtained money illegally and transferred this money to his account somewhere else in an illegal manner,” he said.

“This means, Martin Elia Lomuro, the minister of cabinet affairs, has stolen money from the government of South Sudan from the ministry of cabinet affairs, carried this money, and took it to Kenya. That is what laundering is,” he added.

He lashed out at South Sudanese which he said are celebrating the Kenyan action describing them as people who have little brains despite the fact that the country is being targeted.

“I do not understand those South Sudanese who are celebrating out there. Their country is being targeted and because of their little brains, they think targeting a minister is something that they celebrate,” Lomuro said.

“I have assets in the Republic of South Sudan, I have worked for years abroad and in South Sudan, and I would be naïve if I did not have a bank account and if I did not have money to support my family. I am not. I want somebody to go out there that I have stolen or laundered money. That is what I want,” he added.