EXCLUSIVE: The $1.7 Billion Oil Heist That’s Starving South Sudan While Elites Feast on Blood Money

From Deng Lual Wol to Benjamin Bol Mel: How South Sudan’s Oil Wealth Was Allegedly Captured by a Tiny Elite

A Kenya Insights Investigation

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While mothers in South Sudan watch their children’s bellies swell from malnutrition, a staggering $1.7 billion in oil money has simply evaporated into the ether.

And investigators from the United Nations to Washington say they know exactly where it went: into the sprawling business empire of one man who now sits just one heartbeat away from the presidency.

In May 2025, despite being under U.S. sanctions since 2017 for corruption, Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel was promoted to First Vice Chairperson of the ruling SPLM party, positioning him as President Salva Kiir’s potential successor.

Just months earlier, a United Nations investigation revealed that his network of companies had received $1.7 billion of the $2.2 billion allocated to South Sudan’s oil-for-roads program between 2021 and 2024, while over 90% of promised roads remain unbuilt.

This is the story of how South Sudan’s oil wealth didn’t just disappear. It was systematically stolen, barrel by barrel, cargo by cargo, in what may be the most brazen petroleum heist in modern African history.

THE GATEKEEPERS START FALLING

The first domino fell quietly. General Manasa Machar Bol, who had served as Director of Security and Coordination in the Ministry of Petroleum and was described as instrumental in ensuring smooth oil operations, was removed from his position. To insiders, it was a warning shot. Manasa had overseen oil security through five different petroleum ministers and had been a rare source of oversight in a sector notorious for its opacity.

Then came the bigger earthquake. On November 4, 2025, President Salva Kiir issued a decree dismissing Engineer Deng Lual Wol as Undersecretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and reinstating Dr. Chol Thon Abel in his place.

In a farewell letter dated November 4, Deng warned President Kiir that South Sudan’s vital crude oil exports faced immediate shutdown due to escalating security threats in Sudan, through which the export pipeline runs. But behind the official reasons lurk far darker allegations.

According to internal accounts and opposition sources obtained by Kenya Insights, Deng Lual Wol was allegedly a “key piece of the puzzle” in a massive scheme involving:

Missing cargoes: Shipments of crude whose financial proceeds never appeared in the central bank’s main USD account.

Deep discounts: Oil cargoes allegedly sold to friendly traders at up to $10 per barrel below prevailing prices, essentially gifting away approximately $6 million per 600,000-barrel cargo.

Payments routed off-book: Invoices allegedly settled in offshore or parallel accounts rather than through official petroleum revenue channels.

While no public audit has confirmed these specific figures, the pattern mirrors exactly what UN investigators documented in the notorious “Oil for Roads” program: billions pledged, a fraction delivered, and vast sums vanishing into patronage networks.

THE MACHINE AT THE CENTER: BOL MEL’S EMPIRE

At the epicenter of this alleged kleptocracy stands Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, a businessman who transformed proximity to power into what may be the largest fortune ever amassed in South Sudan’s short, tragic history.

Originally serving as President Kiir’s principal financial advisor, Bol Mel built a vast empire through his companies, including the now-sanctioned ABMC Thai-South Sudan Construction and Home and Away Ltd, which secured lucrative deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, often without competitive bidding.

In December 2017, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Bol Mel, with Secretary Steven Mnuchin stating: “Today, the United States is taking a strong stand against human rights abuse and corruption globally by shutting these bad actors out of the U.S. financial system”. The Treasury found that ABMC had been awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars by the South Sudan government without competitive processes, including road maintenance on routes that had been completed just years before.

The sanctions should have ended his career. Instead, they barely slowed him down.

In February 2025, Bol Mel was appointed Vice President for the Economic Cluster, placing him at the heart of economic policy. Then in May 2025, South Sudan asked the Trump administration to lift sanctions on Bol Mel in exchange for accepting more deportees from the United States, according to Politico, citing diplomatic correspondence showing a formal note submitted to the U.S. Embassy on May 12.

But it’s the scale of alleged theft that truly staggers the imagination.

According to U.S. authorities, Bol Mel’s network of companies received over $3.5 billion in no-bid government contracts. Investigative reports suggest Bol Mel operated under the alias “Kuol Akol Wieu” to obscure his business dealings and register companies while evading scrutiny. The South Sudan Anti-Corruption Commission itself was reportedly blocked from investigating Bol Mel’s activities, with Commission Chairperson Ngor Kolong Ngor revealing his agency discovered a UAE bank account linked to Bol Mel containing $457.2 million, but was ordered not to pursue the matter.

THE LAST MAN STANDING: AYUWEL AT NILEPET

If Deng Lual Wol was a key node inside the Ministry of Petroleum, and General Manasa Machar Bol provided security oversight, then Engineer Ayuwel (Ayuel) Ngor Kacgor sits at the very heart of the operation: Nilepet, the state-owned oil company that manages South Sudan’s participation in oil consortia and handles staggering volumes of crude.

Ayuwel was appointed Managing Director of Nilepet in October 2024. What followed reads like a horror story for the company’s 3,000 employees.

Staff members at Nilepet told Radio Tamazuj that employees have not received salaries or allowances since April 2025, a crisis worsened by suspended food rations and medical insurance, with workers reporting colleagues have died from illnesses they could not afford to treat, children pulled from school over unpaid fees, and families evicted from homes.

Multiple employees described a leadership vacuum, alleging that Ayuwel “doesn’t come to the office frequently, sometimes showing up for an hour then leaving to avoid engagement with staff,” with one employee claiming he often arrives only after 5 p.m., long after most have left. In June 2025, discontent boiled over when Nilepet employees began a sit-in strike, demanding Ayuwel’s removal over alleged mismanagement.

But the allegations go far beyond mere incompetence.

A Kenya Insights investigation in April 2025, citing whistleblowers, reported that Ayuwel recently acquired a mansion in the exclusive Karen suburb of Nairobi valued at approximately $2 million (Ksh 259,000,000), with the acquisition registered under his wife’s name, Mrs. Yar Oka, raising questions about potential money laundering.

Kenya Insights sought Ayuwel’s comment multiple times but received no response before publication.

According to political insiders who spoke on condition of anonymity, Ayuwel is widely viewed as “Bol Mel’s last trusted lieutenant” inside the core oil apparatus. While General Manasa Machar Bol has been removed and Deng Lual Wol dismissed, Ayuwel remains in place. Several sources suggest Vice President Bol Mel is fighting hard behind the scenes to keep him there, to preserve control over cargo allocations, pricing decisions, and the flow of revenue.

THE PARALLEL PETROLEUM STATE

The allegations around discounted cargoes and “friendly traders” fit a documented pattern: the emergence of what investigators call a parallel petroleum system.

UN experts revealed that senior officials within the Office of the President and Ministry of Finance often dictate which companies are awarded cargoes of crude oil, frequently choosing companies willing to advance a significant percentage of the cargo value months before delivery, with local companies sometimes taking substantial fees before trading cargoes on to larger international traders.

In some cases, officials circumvent oversight mechanisms by instructing buyers to make payments directly to third parties rather than government accounts, with one example showing a trader asked to pay remaining proceeds from a cargo to Amuk General Trading, a major supplier of off-budget food supplies for South Sudan’s armed forces.

The mounting risks facing oil operators became starkly visible when trader BB Energy launched legal action against South Sudan over an undelivered crude cargo, filing a claim in British court on June 27, 2025, concerning a 2024 prepayment deal for Dar Blend crude that was never delivered despite the pipeline’s resumption.

The opacity is by design. The Ministry of Petroleum operates with selective disclosure of figures, opaque contracting, and side deals beyond normal budgetary oversight. In such an environment, cargo-level manipulation becomes not just possible but virtually undetectable from the outside.

THE REVOLVING DOOR OF MINISTERS

One visible symptom of this captured system is the extraordinary turnover of economic officials. The recent reshuffle marks the eighth change in the Ministry of Finance since 2020, with Athian Diing Athian dismissed and replaced by Dr. Barnaba Baak Chol, who previously held the same position between August 2023 and March 2024.

Insiders argue many of these ministers were never truly empowered to challenge the networks surrounding the petroleum ministry and presidency’s economic advisers. Even so, they bear responsibility for failing to protect public finances or blow the whistle in time.

The result? Between July 2011 and December 2024, South Sudan’s government generated over $23 billion from oil exports, according to UN data based on the government’s own figures, yet virtually none of this money has been reinvested to stabilize the economy.

THE HUMAN COST: BILLIONS STOLEN WHILE CHILDREN STARVE

The damage is not theoretical. While 76 of South Sudan’s 79 counties face severe food insecurity, less than 1% of the federal budget between 2020 and 2024 was allocated to ministries responsible for food security. During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, public funds spent on the President’s personal medical unit surpassed those spent on nationwide healthcare.

Approximately one in ten children die in childbirth, and secondary school enrollment stands at just 5%. Meanwhile, elite medical travel consumes resources that could save thousands of lives for the cost of basic transport or medicine.

South Sudan has consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, placed last out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index with a score of just 8 out of 100.

THE BORROWED FUTURE: DEBT UPON DEBT

Even as billions disappeared domestically, South Sudan was mortgaging its future abroad. In January 2024, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled that South Sudan owed Qatar National Bank $1,021,282,210 in unpaid loans and interest. In May 2025, a UK High Court judge ruled South Sudan owed $657 million to the African Export-Import Bank for three loan facilities from 2019 and 2020, with an additional 13.5 percent interest accruing from January 31, 2025.

Despite suspension of debt repayments, a new loan of $13 billion was negotiated in late 2023 by the then-Minister of Finance with a company registered in the United Arab Emirates. UN experts flagged the deal as potentially corrupt.

The country is drowning in debt while its oil revenues, which should provide a lifeline, continue to be siphoned off.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE LAST PIECE FALLS?

The original allegations that sparked intense scrutiny argue that removing Engineer Ayuwel Ngor Kacgor would effectively sever Vice President Bol Mel’s direct grip on oil revenues.

If Ayuwel were dismissed and replaced by competent leadership subject to clear disclosure requirements and empowered independent audit, South Sudan could theoretically begin rebuilding a functioning state oil system where:

• All crude sales are recorded and published
• Discounts and barter deals are minimized and fully disclosed
• Oil-backed infrastructure programs are vetted and monitored for delivery
• The central bank’s USD account reflects total oil proceeds

However, recent history suggests personnel changes alone rarely dismantle entrenched networks. As long as:

• Bol Mel and his companies retain their central position in infrastructure finance and oil contracts
• The Ministry of Petroleum and Nilepet operate behind closed doors
• Political elites face no real prosecution risk for past embezzlement

…the incentives driving alleged cargo diversions and deep discounts are unlikely to disappear.

THE PATH TO ACCOUNTABILITY

For millions of South Sudanese facing hunger while their nation’s wealth is stolen, genuine accountability would mean:

Independent investigations into all oil-backed programs, including Oil for Roads
Public audits of Nilepet and the Ministry of Petroleum
Criminal proceedings where evidence of embezzlement, fraud or diversion exists
Restitution of stolen assets, including those held abroad
Structural reforms making it impossible for any single faction to capture the oil system again

Until such steps are taken, the removal of one official or another looks less like justice and more like routine maintenance on a machine designed to turn oil into personal fortunes while a nation starves.

The various actors named in this investigation, from Deng Lual Wol and Ayuwel Ngor Kacgor to Benjamin Bol Mel and their business partners, either deny wrongdoing or have not publicly responded to specific allegations.

Nevertheless, the convergence of UN findings, U.S. sanctions renewed as recently as 2025, detailed investigative journalism from multiple outlets, international court rulings, and staff testimonies from within Nilepet and state institutions creates a damning portrait: South Sudan’s oil sector has been systematically hijacked for the benefit of a tiny elite.

As one analyst put it starkly: “When the hyena is in charge of the goats, there will be no one left to count”.

For South Sudan’s 12 million citizens, half of whom face acute hunger, that’s not a metaphor. It’s their daily reality.

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This investigation is based on United Nations reports, U.S. Treasury Department sanctions records, international court filings, and interviews with government officials, oil sector employees, and civil society activists who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kenya Insights continues to seek responses from all parties named in this investigation.

Editor’s Note: Benjamin Bol Mel, Ayuwel Ngor Kacgor, and Deng Lual Wol were contacted for comment through multiple channels but did not respond before publication. This article will be updated if responses are received.

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