This archive report was first published on 24 August 2020.
On August 24, 2020, a Somali court handed down a significant verdict in the fight against corruption, sentencing a senior health ministry official to nine years in jail for stealing COVID-19 funds and misusing a genuine seal.
The court found Abdullahi Hashi Ali, the director general of the Health Ministry, guilty of violating article 241 of the country's penal code, which deals with stealing funds and improper use of a genuine seal.
Ali was arrested in April 2020 and appeared in court alongside eight other defendants, who were accused of graft charges.
Abdullahi was sentenced to nine years in jail and fined $2366, with a ban from serving in public office. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $2366.
Another defendant, Mohamed Bulle Mohamud, the director of the ministry's finance department, was found guilty of stealing public property and falsifying private deeds. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail and fined $2366, with a ban from serving in public office.
Meanwhile, Bashir Abdi Nur, an accountant in a HIV/AIDS project, was sentenced to three years in jail, fined $1,183, and banned from public office for five years.
Five other suspects were acquitted in the case.
