The authorities of Northern Bahr El-Ghazal have suspended the secretary general and director general in the Ministry of Finance over the alleged misappropriation of public funds.

The State Minister of Information says several other officials in the Ministry of Finance have also been suspended.

“This happened mainly because there was a financial scandal discovered last month when the Ministry of Education did not receive its salaries for December and other ministries including the counties,” Nyibol Benjamin told Eye Radio.

Ms Nyibol said the state government has formed an investigation committee to establish the facts and recommend administrative measures.

Honorable Nyibol said the amount of money believed to have been misappropriated is about 9.8 million South Sudanese pounds.

She said this has made it necessary for the authorities to suspend the payment of salaries of teachers and other local workers for December.