Turjumaad ayaa la diyaarinayaa

MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has pardoned six government officials sentenced in absentia for corruption, according to a presidential directive seen by Somaliguardian, a move critics say threatens to undermine the country’s fragile judicial credibility.

The decree, issued to the Banadir Regional Court, ordered the formal release and clearance of the six civil servants convicted during a 2023 anti-graft sweep. The men – Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, Abdirahman Mohamed Ali, Abukar Hassan Adan, Mohamed Hussein Nageye, Abdullahi Dahir Wehliye, and Abdirahman Abdikarim Ibrahim – were never apprehended by law enforcement despite the court’s ruling.

The original convictions relied primarily on allegations filed by the auditor general’s office rather than substantial physical evidence presented in court, according to local legal analysts. The case closely parallels that of former Public Works director Abdillahi Suldan, who was detained on similar charges in June 2020 and served a year in prison before his release.

The executive intervention represents a significant shift for Mohamud, who campaigned heavily on promises to dismantle institutional graft. Somalia routinely ranks at the bottom of Transparency International’s global corruption index, a positioning that complicates its ongoing efforts to secure international budgetary support and foreign investment.