UN investigators accused South Sudanese authorities on Tuesday of systematic plunder, citing payments of $1.7 billion to companies linked to Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel for roadworks that were never carried out.

These transactions between 2021 and 2024 exemplify “grand corruption” in one of the world’s poorest nations, where average GDP per capita has slumped to a quarter of its 2011 level at independence.

The UN Commission on Human Rights report also revealed that the president’s medical unit receives an annual budget exceeding the entire national health expenditure, underscoring the country’s stark misallocation of resources.