The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is currently investigating seven Sierra Leoneans including Jacob Tenga Sessie – Deputy Director of Budget in the Ministry of Finance, Emmanuel Smart – Accounting Officer of the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, Starlyn Kemoh – Accountant, Ibrahim Bangura – Senior Accountant, John Ellie – Principal Accountant, Joseph Johnson – Accountant and Philip Yomba – Senior Accountant all of the Accountant Generals Department on alleged corruption offences.
ACC’s Deputy Director of Public Education and Outreach, Abubakarr Turay confirmed to AYV that all seven suspects are currently being detained by the ACC, helping investigations on an alleged Diversion of Public Funds into a Fictitious Account opened at the Kabala Community Bank.
The Ministry of Finance this weekend issued a Press Release informing the conduct of an internal audit review on several payments made in favour of Edward Davies and Associates Ltd, a Consultancy Firm hired by the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) for work done on the construction of the Kenema-Pendembu Road.
The ministry said it discovered that these payments were diverted to a fictitious account opened at the Kabala Community Bank.
The ministry went on that in December 2023, a total of Le6.5 billion (Old Leones) was processed at the Accountant General’s Department (AGD) for payment to Edward Davies and Associates Ltd. However, investigations revealed that a handful of SLRA, MoF and AGD staff colluded to open the fictitious bank account at the Kabala Community Bank and diverted these funds to this account instead of Rokel Commercial Bank, where the Consultancy Firm has its account.
In line with the above and following internal investigations, the ministry said it officially made a report on Monday, 8th January 2024, to the Anti-Corruption Commission to conduct a detailed investigations into the matter and further submitted a copy of the Internal Audit Report to the ACC to guide the investigation.
