“Sudan and the U.S. Department of Justice: Moral myopia on a grand scale”—it’s time to compel some clarity
Eric Reeves
The piece below concerns plans announced as of this date by the U.S. Justice Department for $3.84 billion, designated by the Federal District Court of Southern New York as the source of restitution for those Sudanese who suffered “direct and proximate” harm from the criminal laundering actions of French Banking giant BNP Paribas (years 2004 – 2012).
In the words of presiding Judge Lorna Schofield, restitution is due to Sudanese (and to a much lesser extent Cubans and Iranians) who were “directly and proximately harmed by BNP Paribas’s criminal conduct.” No one more clearly meets that criterion than Sudanese who remain on the ground in conflict regions of Sudan:
- Sudan Tribune, July 29, 2015
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article55857
- Huffington Post, July 30, 2015 (with all Web links)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-reeves/sudan-and-the-obama-admin_b_7892136.html
If you agree with my assessment, tell the Justice Department as much. Presently, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that DOJ simply wants the problem to go away, even as Sudanese suffer from the substantial shortfalls in funding for humanitarian efforts in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and the large refugee populations in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan:
Assistant Attorney General of the United States, Criminal Division, Leslie R. Caldwell
U.S. Department of Justice/Criminal Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Email: Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov
Website: http://www.justice.gov/criminal/contact-criminal-division
Telephone:
Department of Justice Main Switchboard | 202-514-2000
Criminal Division Citizen Phone Line | 202-353-4641