March 19, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The commission of inquiry established by the National Assembly’s Transport Committee on the issue of Heathrow airport landing slot finalized its report and recommended that criminal, civil and administrative charges be brought against a number of former officials in Sudan Airways including chairman of the board of directors.

Aeroplanes are seen on the tarmac in Khartoum’s international airport September 13, 2012 (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The Chairman of the Parliament’s Transport Committee Oshek Mohamed Ahmed, said in a press statement after a briefing given by the Minister of Transport, Ahmed Babiker Nahar, that the issue has become a legal one, adding that the commission has finalized its task and determined the level of charges and the list of accused persons.

The former chairman of the board of directors Al-Sharif Ahmed Omar Badr had previously challenged the commission to prove his involvement in the sale of Heathrow airport landing slot asserting the invalidity of the charges.

Badr has been widely accused of approving sale of the Heathrow slot to British Midland International (BMI) for millions of dollars.

Badr was fired from Sudan Airways after the Kuwaiti Arif Investment Group (AIG) took over. When the Heathrow issue surfaced AIG denied any involvement.

A former Sudan Airways expert accused a senior official in the company of receiving “thousands of dollars” in return of facilitating the deal with BMI.

The expert, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that some members of the board of directors who were in charge when AIG acquired Sudan airways contributed significantly to completion of the controversial deal which brought about $136 million into the accounts of AIG and another Sudanese companies owned by an influential government official.

This month the Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir ordered that those implicated in this deal should be held accountable.

(ST)