JUBA, Aug 27: A probe into policing in the troubled new nation of South Sudan has uncovered 11,000 fake names on the payroll, an official said Tuesday, offering some explanation into rising crime. Worse still, Interior Minister Aleu Ayeny Aleu told reporters, a further 16,000 names were being investigated, meaning half the force on the payroll may be fictitious.

The scam has enabled corrupt officials to pocket their salaries, he said.

“We were able to identify 11,000 in our pay list which we have decided to knock out,” Aleu said, in his first public address since taking office this month. “And we are investigating 16,000 more names.” South Sudan's police force — made up of former rebels who fought Sudanese forces in the brutal 1983-2005 civil war — was thought initially to total some 52,000 men and women, police spokesman James Monday said.

“When the 16,000 names were checked in the database and the pay roll list they do not match,” Monday said. “We are yet to verify exactly where all the owners of these names are.”—AFP