A/HRC/43/56 South Sudan spends its money on its military and governing elite, not to improve infrastructure or public services. 35. Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, the economy of the South has depended primarily on oil revenues, accounting for the vast majority of exports and currently 73 per cent of government revenues. 20 The cumulative effect of such reliance raised the nation’s geopolitical profile and gave rise to a rentier model of statehood, whereby substantial revenues derived from crude petroleum were commissioned for the benefit of external clients, including China, India and Malaysia. Accrued profits, however, continued to be appropriated by political elites rather than reinvested into the country and its citizenry, as stipulated in relevant laws.21 36. Parties to the Revitalized Agreement sought to address this accountability gap by devoting chapter IV provisions to reforms and measures designed to promote greater accountability and transparency in the use and management of public resources, with an emphasis on oil revenues. Chapter IV measures are largely based on the national laws of South Sudan, notably the Petroleum Act and the Petroleum Revenue Management Act of 2012. Other relevant legislation aimed at ensuring transparency regarding public finances includes chapter 9 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (2013),22 chapter 5 of the Investigation Committees Act (2006)23 and chapter 11 of the Bank of South Sudan Act (2011).24 1. Non-oil revenues 37. Also pursuant to chapter IV, the National Revenue Authority became primarily responsible for the collection and administration of non-oil revenues,25 which had previously been collected by the Ministry of Finance. The Commission was informed in a confidential meeting that, during the first half of 2019, the Authority steadily increased revenue collection,26 curbed excessive tax exemptions, streamlined recruitment of senior National Revenue Authority posts,27 widened the tax base and enhanced transparency by providing public monthly statistics on the revenue collected. 38. Collection efforts were stymied on 23 August 2019, when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Salvatore Garang Mabiordit, dismissed the Commissioner General and the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority on the basis of multiple allegations that both parties have denied.28 On 28 October 2019, the Minister alleged that the Commissioner General had illegally opened and was operating a single treasury account in Mombasa, Kenya29 to divert funds from the Authority’s operation account. The Board rejected this allegation of wrongdoing and confirmed that it knew and had authorized opening the account and subsequent transactions.30 39. The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that, since the unlawful dismissal of the Commissioner General and the Board, there has been a steady diversion of non-oil revenue funds to the operation account of the National Revenue Authority managed by the 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 10 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), National Budget Brief, May 2019, available from www.unicef.org/southsudan/reports/national-budget-brief. See for example Petroleum Revenue Management Act (2013), art. 29. Chapter 9 on transparency and accountability. Chapter 5, § 21: Public Access to Investigation Proceedings and Information. Chapter 11: Accounts, Financial Statements, Audits and Reports. Revitalized Agreement, arts. 4.10.1.4–5. Annual statistics on file with the Commission. The Committee learned in a confidential meeting that the Board of the National Revenue Authority had retained the Tanzania Tax Authority to conduct a recruitment exercise for top posts in the National Revenue Authority. All recruitment, however, has been frozen for the past year to allow for the National Security Service vetting process. Ministerial order RSS/MoF&P/MO/3/08/19 and documents on file with the Commission. As South Sudan is a landlocked country, many of its imports arrive at Mombasa port and are taxed there. See press statement made by the Board available from http://updm-rss.org/press-statement-by-thedefunct-national-revenue-authority-nra-board.