SOMALIA: Central Bank Governor Resigns after Refusing to Authorize Illegal Transactions

Dubai, Nov 02, 2013 (SDN) -Somalia’s newly appointed first female Central Bank Governor Yussur Abrar resigned today after she had come under pressure from her government to make illegal withdrawals of Somali money frozen in foreign banks and donor funds from American and European banks.

Sources close to Abrar who is currently in Dubai, said that President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud and other senior government officials have been putting great pressure on her since she took over the job one month and a half ago to withdraw these funds and deposit them it in an account outside the Somali Central Bank. The sources quoting Abrar said that she was threatened when she refused to withdraw the funds. She instead suggested to withdraw the funds and deposit it in the Somali Central Bank which was  categorically rejected by Sheikh Mohamoud and his underlings.

The money was frozen in Gulf Arab banks when the Somali government collapsed in 1991. Abrar refused to withdraw the money unless the president accepted it to be deposited in the Somali Central Bank.

According to the sources, Abrar, who replaced Abduslam Omer, a fellow man from Awdal region, and has more than 30 years experience in international banks and insurance companies, has slipped out of the country after she was scared for her own security and emailed her resignation to the President from her place of stay in Dubai.

Source: Awdalpress