UN team demands al-Essi to be included in international sanctions
SANAA, Feb. 19 (YPA) – A UN team of experts intends to include Yemeni businessman Ahmed al-Essa and his trade group in the international sanctions list after corruption files discovered by the team.
The experts’ request came as part of a report submitted to the UN Security Council. The report revealed huge corruption and misappropriation of funds by Saudi-backed government of the exiled Hadi, describing al-Essi as “a corruption Hamour” (big corrupt official) and close to Hadi and his son Jalal.
The details contained in the report reveal to the public opinion some of the practices related to the large financial corruption taking place in corridors of the government, which receives directives from Hadi and his son.
The trader Ahmed al-Essi monopolizes all contracts and tenders signed with huge sums exceeding the natural contracts by tens of times.
This confirms what has been published in previous reports on the systematic corruption to loot public money and funds of grants and international assistance, which is shared between al-Essi and Hadi’s son (Jalal) with the participation of influential officials in the government.
The United Nations report, which came in 230 papers in Arabic and English versions, confirmed the team’s investigation into a bill of payable amounts worth more than $ 3 million issued by Aden Refinery Company to a company belonging to al-Essi Group.
The report said that this huge amount came as costs of renting the oil tanker “M-Spirit” and the delay fines related to it, noting to unclear reasons behind the long anchorage in the city of Aden during the period (from September 4 to October 6), which led to the imposition of those fines.
According to the report, when the United Nations team communicated with the government on this exaggerated invoice, the government responded by saying “the tanker had been contracted through al-Essi Group to transport a crude oil shipment from Hadramout to Aden Refinery.”
The team recommended the UN Security Council that the resolution or the presidential statement should contain a formula that states that corruption poses a major threat to peace and security in Yemen and that the perpetrators involved in it may meet the criteria for determining the competent authorities being subject to sanctions under the UN Resolution 2140 for the year 2014.
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