The former Minister of Local Government in Lol State, Manoon Aleu, who is in police custody, has confirmed that he sold three government cars and reportedly used the money to address security issues.

Mr. Manoon says the governor was out of the state for four months at the time and no budget had been passed for handling state affairs.

“I was the acting governor of the state but without budget, because the minister of finance traveled together with the governor and they were staying in Juba. The security situation was pressuring me [to act],” said Manoon.

He was arrested in Juba last week over corruption allegations, including the alleged loss of 800,000 pounds.

On Monday, the Minister of Information in Lol, Omar Ishak said Mr Manoon was being transferred to the state for further investigation.

Mr Manoon told Eye Radio, Tuesday, that he is now in Nyamlell town under police custody.

He said he formed a committee to sell the cars and argued that he was performing his duties as the acting governor.

Manoon said the vehicles sold are those that were not functioning well.

“If the government has financial crisis and has something, people can do something to resolve the financial problem,” Manoon added.

Mr Manoon also denied allegations that he had taken 800,000 pounds.

He also said he didn’t act alone, saying a committee headed by the state Minister of Information and the Acting Secretary General of the state at the time, were involved in the assessment of the available funds.

“There was a committee headed by the minister of information and acting secretary of the state government and the whole amount was around 100,000 SSP and this amount cannot run the state government for four months,” said Mr Manoon.