Cash Hoard Of $130 Million Found In Former President's Home

Omar al-Bashir

A large hoard of cash has been found at the home of Sudan’s ousted president Omar al-Bashir and he is now being investigated for money laundering, prosecutors say.

Security services found euros, dollars and Sudanese pounds totalling more than $130m (£100m)..

The ex-leader was placed under house arrest after months of protests led to his removal.

Reports say Mr Bashir is now being held at the Kobar high-security prison.

A source in Sudan’s judiciary told Reuters news agency that suitcases loaded with more than $351,000, €6m ($6.7m; £5.2m) and five billion Sudanese pounds ($105m) were found at Mr Bashir’s home.

The source also confirmed Mr Bashir was under investigation, telling Reuters prosecutors would “question the former president in Kobar prison”.

A picture carried by the Netherlands-based media outlet Radio Dabanga shows men in army uniforms standing over what appears to be several sacks full of cash.

The money, which Radio Dabanga says was shown to reporters, was stuffed in bags designed to contain 50kg (110lbs) of grain.

But despite moves to hold Mr Bashir to account, Sudan’s army does not appear to have the confidence of protesters demanding civilian rule, BBC Africa correspondent, Alastair Leithead, says.

The mass sit-in continues in the centre of Khartoum, amid a lack of trust that the military council is committed to handing over power to a civilian transitional authority.

Each day concessions are announced, but there’s little proof that what’s been promised has been delivered.

There have been no images of the former president in prison, nor any response from the generals over a demand they give up power to a civilian administration.

The general public prosecutor’s announcement that Mr Bashir is being investigated for money laundering after cash was found at his home is news the demonstrators would like to hear.

The Sudanese military toppled Mr Bashir on 11 April but demonstrators, led by The Sudanese Professionals Association, have vowed to stay on the streets until there is a move to civilian rule.

Mr Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in the country’s Darfur region.

Sudan’s military, however, says it will not extradite him and will try him in the country instead.

Uganda would consider offering the deposed leader asylum if he applied, the country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Oryem Okello told Reuters.

Until this week, Mr Bashir’s whereabouts since his removal were unknown.

The coup leader at the time, Awad Ibn Auf, said Mr Bashir was being detained in a “safe place”.

He himself stood down soon afterwards, with Lt Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan named as head of the transitional military council.