Sudanese Military Finds $7M in Cash in Bashir's Home

Sudan’s top state prosecutors have ordered an investigation of deposed President Omar al Bashir for money laundering and possession of large amounts of foreign currency after authorities found well over 6 million euros stashed away in his home.

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If convicted, Bashir, who was removed from office in a military coup April 11, faces up to 10 years of prison, according to EFE.

Sudanese Army and Intelligence members searched Bashir’s residence to find more than 6 million euros (about US$6,781,500.00), 351,000 U.S. dollars, and 5 million Sudanese pounds (US$105,000), reports Moatasem Abdulan Mahmud from the state prosecutor’s office.

Video footage of the confiscated cash circulating on Twitter shows Sudanese officials piling up meters of U.S. bills.

Prosecutors ordered a warrant allowing Sudanese security forces to enter Bashir’s home, located in the army headquarters. Authorities say the monies will be deposited in the Bank of Sudan. The Prosecutor’s Office says it "has immediately begun to implement the orders of the military junta and carry out its tasks to fight against corruption."

“The chief public prosecutor... ordered the (former) president (to be) quickly questioned in preparation to put him on trial,” a judicial source told Reuters. “The public prosecution will question the former president in Khobar prison,” where he is currently being held, the source added.

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After autocratically ruling the country since 1989, Bashir was ousted and arrested by the army 10 days ago. His downfall came following four months of nationwide protests during which dozens of people were killed and others imprisoned.

Bashir was sent to the Khobar maximum security prison in Khartoum April 17 following several days of house arrest. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes including, ethnic cleansing in the country's Darfur region.

The African Union (AU) and Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) civil society organization are demanding that a civilian government immediately replace the Military Transitional Council (MTC) set up in the hours after Bashir was removed. SPA says the council, comprising the same military members who took down the government, is too closely affiliated with Bashir and his cronies and must be immediately replaced by a civil council that will set up elections.

"The objectives of the revolution cannot be achieved totally and completely in the face of the backstage manipulations by the remnants of the regime," SPA member, Taha Osman, told reporters last week.

This Sunday in front of the defense ministry in Khartoum, civil society organizations are set to announce the candidates they want to see assume power and replace the MTC.

The military council has insisted they will rule Sudan for up to two years before elections are put in place.

Also arrested since Wednesday are the two brothers of Bashir that an MTC spokesperson called, "symbols of the regime overthrown and suspected of corruption."