Former Somalia Foreign Minister Denies Graft Claims

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Ms Fozia Yusuf

I would like to state here the facts about allegations by Reuters regarding the above mentioned graft which have recently been circulating in the international and local media: – Statement by Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Somalia Ms. Fawzia Y. H. Adam

Somalilandsun – Under the above heading, Reuters reported that ‘The sources said that according to Ms. Abrar (ex-Governor of Somali Central Bank), the former Foreign Minister (myself) had pressed her to open a bank account in Dubai against her wishes. Abrar resigned without opening it’. Ms. Abrar, the former Governor of the Central Bank, had been strongly supported by me for her position as Governor precisely since I wanted to see an experienced female in that high position to oppose graft (corruption).

As Reuters stated correctly Ms. Abrar resigned only seven weeks after she was appointed, however, out of those seven weeks Ms Abrar spent only four days working in the Central Bank. (Evidence can be obtained from the Central Bank in Mogadishu).

Ex-Governor Yussar AbrarAccording to Reuters, Ms. Abrar has claimed that I have pressured her to open an account in Dubai. However, the fact is that the account was in the process of being opened by the former Assistant Minister of Finance of Somalia and he wanted the new Governor of the Central Bank to co-sign with him. The purpose for opening this account was due to the lack of a SWIFT code for the Central Bank to receive transactions from overseas at that time. Ms. Abrar was in fact asked by the Assistant Minister of Finance to co-sign with him the account, in order to involve the Central Bank in all transactions. The Assistant Finance Minister confirmed that he was waiting for Ms. Abrar for 4 days in Dubai to finalize the matter. My role was just to pass the message from the Assistant Finance Minister to Ms. Abrar, that he was waiting for her in Dubai to co-sign the aforementioned account.

Ms. Abrar’s positive response to me is also available as further evidence. There was no pressure and/or request whatsoever from myself to Ms. Abrar to open any account, but just to co-sign the aforementioned account which the Government needed to deposit some economic aid to pay its Government employees.

Furthermore, according to Reuters, Ms. Abrar claimed that I have pressured her to sanction contracts – again this is a baseless allegation. For the record, neither I nor the President pressured Ms. Abrar to open an account in Dubai or sanction any contracts. The documentary evidence supporting all the above is available upon request.

Fozia then Foreign minister  and Yussur ,CB Governor with aides at an international function/file

Thus, this particular story, highlighted by Reuters, implicating myself in graft was both poor reporting and a totally false accusation. Further, Reuters has made no attempt whatsoever to contact me to obtain the facts on their st