A pumpjack drilling crude oil. (Credit: ded pixto/Shutterstock)

South Sudan’s former Minister of Finance Dr Bak Barnaba Chol signed the 12 billion US dollar oil for a loan deal with a fake sheikh suspected to be implicated in international crimes, according to an investigation by Africa Intelligence.

In April 2024, a leaked document showed that South Sudan has agreed with a United Arab Emirates firm to lend the country about 12.9 billion US dollars in exchange for crude oil payment in the next 20 years.

The agreement, seen in a report of the UN Security Council’s panel of experts, was first published by the Bloomberg news agency.

When contacted on Monday, 29th April 2024, to respond to the leaked document, Government Spokesperson Michael Makuei denied the validity of the $13 billion UAE loan agreement.

However, the Minister of Information referred Eye Radio to the Ministry of Finance for further clarification.

“Why don’t you ask the Ministry of Finance who is said to have signed the document? For me it’s not true, there is nothing as such, but, you check on the finance and find out from them because they are said to be the signatories,” Makuei said.

Former Finance Minister Dr Bak Barnaba Chol seemingly agreed to the loan terms in documents signed between December 2023 and February 2024 with the Dubai-based lender Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Petroleum (HBK DOP).

Addressing the gathering at the reception ceremony of newly appointed Minister of Finance, Awow Daniel Chuang, in March 2024, Dr Bak disclosed that the government secured loans from financial institutions across the globe.

“In our quest to diversify our revenue stream and reduce our dependency on oil revenues, we need to make significant strive in increasing non-oil and also go for external loans,” Dr Bak said.

“We have successfully negotiated our way with several companies and financial institutions all over the globe. We did complete negotiation with Sheik Hamad Bin Khalif – HBK Department of Petroleum for a long-term facility,” he said.

These institutions include the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Petroleum, China-Africa Cooperation, Green Bank, Marina in Canada and so many others.

Negotiated on the sidelines of the COP28 Summit in Dubai 2023, the deal with a Dubai-based Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Projects (HBK DOP) was said to be nearly double the GDP of South Sudan and about five times the country’s current external debt of 2.5 billion US dollars.

According to the deal spanning 20 years, South Sudan will supply the company with oil for 20 years.

However, in an 18th June publication on Africa Intelligence, authors Antoine Galdino and Joan Tilouine found out that the man behind the deal is not a member of the ruling Zayed dynasty but a distant cousin from the Nahyan clan

His great-grandfather belonged to the federation’s founder, Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan but presented himself as a relative to UAE President Mohammed Bin Azayed al Nahyan.

Born and named Adil Al Otaibab, he is said to have derived the name of his business company from a relative, Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Mohamed Al Nahyan and added the Department of Project (DOP)

Moreover, none of his immediate family holds any official positions in the United Arab Emirates government, the investigation established.

According to the findings, Juba did not conduct due diligence into HBK DOP that even barely exists and use flaunt dubious references and sometimes made-up job histories with fictitious companies.

In December 2020, the Megido Financial Intelligence Agency reportedly exposed Shiekh Hamad while investigating him as a 50% potential buyer of Beitar Jerusalem Football Club for $32m.

The agency discovered that HBK Group consisted of companies purportedly operating in sectors such as cryptocurrency and renewable energy, but in practice did very little.

The company which could be mistaken for several companies has conned many companies in Asia and European countries such as Turkey, the United Kingdom Ukraine among others.

The report published on the African Intelligence said; “Major financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Money Fun (IMF) are keeping a close eye on the situation.’

It reveals that  “South Sudan, dependent on these entities, is seeking a new disbursement of $ 250m from the IMF to help it cope with its economic crisis on top of January’s emergency injection of $114m.”

AI added that “In May, the World Bank and the IMF established conditions for an eventual new loan, just as South Sudan is weeks away from defaulting on a 1bn debt to the Qatar National Bank (QNB).

South Sudan’s economy is grappling due to the disruption of the oil pipeline, a situation being exploited by Shiekh Hamad which is reportedly a great concern to South Sudan partners such as the World Bank and IMF.