Sierra Leone Telegraph: 15 October 2020:
Just as the New Direction government of President Julius Maada Bio says it is beginning to get grips with massive corruption in the country, then comes revelation that Billions of Leones are being siphoned into private accounts of corrupt officials and private corporations.
A new report published by the Africanist Press has revealed that over Three Billion Leones is missing in the country’s National Revenue Authority’s accounts.
The damning report which is co-authored by Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman, says that “Based on the fraud investigation carried out by the management of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), we observed that staff were issuing receipts to airlines or agents of airlines for revenues that were not in the bank statement.”
The report also revealed that some airlines and their agents were paying foreign travel taxes (FTT) into commercial banks rather than the designated FTT account at the Bank of Sierra Leone.
“As a result, for 2019, a total of Le3,208,245,094.20 purported to have been paid into the Zenith Bank and Standard Chartered Bank was not in the bank statements.”
According to investigation conducted by the Africanist Press, penalties totalling Le3.6 billion were levied on defaulting taxpayers but no evidence was submitted to ascertain that the NRA took further actions to collect these funds.
“From the review of taxpayer’s files in respect of FTT, we observed that penalties totalling Le3,601,203,494 were levied on taxpayers who failed to make payments on their tax liabilities on or before the 15th of the following month. Even though letters were written to taxpayers or their agents for 2018 and 2019, no evidence of payment or responses were sited in their respective files,” they said.
Revenue totalling Le13.6 billion was found in the bank accounts at the Bank of Sierra Leone for which no supporting documents were submitted to allow for a verification of the completeness and accuracy of the amount in the bank accounts.
“Revenue totalling Le13,842,773,928.66 was seen in the accounts of the Bank of Sierra Leone for which no supporting documentation was submitted to ascertain the accuracy of the amount in the account,” the authorities told Africanist Press, adding that during the fiscal year 2019, the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA) also collected and issued receipts to Air Peace and Royal Air Maroc that could not be traced.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE:
Young4na, let’s get to the point and leave your personal life out of the discussion. We all know most Sierra Leoneans work hard and sometimes under adverse conditions to support their families back home. Ours is a homogeneous society and so when one eats, we all eat. Nothing new! Those who continue to support, despite the overwhelming evidence of corruption in the previous administration, have to answer to a higher power. As in American jurisprudence, one is innocent until proven guilty in the courts of law in SL. Crimes may have been committed but the government must show proof beyond all reasonable doubts. That is the defendant’s constitutional right. It must not be abridged by any party. Having said that, we must be aware that Sierra Leone is a small country with a population akin to the idea that those in power and their next of kin are beneficiaries of the cottage industry called ‘CORRUPTION’.
Only those closest to the power structure benefit. These clandestine thieves who masqueraded as president, vice president, education and many other dysfunctional character ministers devoid the country of precious resources. Some of these people were taxi drivers in New York city and Washington DC, living in substandard one bedroom apartments managed to find their way into the government lacking the basic tenets of governing and moral integrity. Of course, their boss was waiting for them in Freetown. With the elite looting team in place they wasted no time first, in selling state assets. Second, they sold the mining resources to the Chinese. Third, they abandoned agriculture and gave the sole license to import food commodities to their families and friends. Fourth, they allowed their families and friends to pay no taxes on the importation of goods via the country’s ports. Fifth, they gave contracts solely to their family members for infrastructure purposes.
Sixth, the Chinese built the president`s mansion in Makeni at no cost to him. What was the quid pro quo for the Chinese? The Ebola, Mud slide and Hajj gate are still being discussed in the country. What about the raiding of the Sierra Leone commercial bank by the president and his cronies? They used the bank as their piggy bank with no intention to pay back the so called loans. These are the facts. The COI saw the crimes committed by the previous administration and each of the three eminent judges on the panel illustrated the depth and scope of the insidious activities of some of the former administration officials. Maybe, they will show to the courts where their wealth originated. Maybe, again, they may have been beneficiaries of large insurance settlements. Do we know how many indigenous Sierra Leone millionaires are there?
Hahaha, crazy isn’t it? It appears some of our ill-informed forumites have found a new line of defense whenever one of them is caught pants down making up stuffs. ‘Hey, Young4na, I am neither APC or SLPP, I love my country, so I should be allow to make up stuff and get away with it’, hahaha. Listen, unlike some of you who happen to have short span memory or appear to suffer from political ignorance when it comes to the governing nature of our 2 major political parties over the past 2 decades, I refuse to be fooled over and over again, since I happen to have been there and seen it all.
Since 2001, America has become my permanent home, however, not a single year has pass since 2005 that I don’t visit my home country. By the way, I don’t only visit, I have also been sparingly investing with whatever meagre resources I can spare after taking care of my needs in my host country. So talking about love of country, please spare me that cock and bull story. Now, when it comes to politics, I have observed both SLPP and APC taking over governance over the past 2 decades, with each starting with what appears to be something catchy. Give them a few months in governance, the same old story repeats itself.
When it comes to the fight against corruption, former president Koroma made major strides just as most of you gullible forumites think Maada Bio is doing now. He not only strengthened the fight against corruption, he was bold enough to charge sitting ministers found wanting for corruption – albeit the clandestine moves that mostly resulted to many of them getting a slap on the wrist and later re-employed. Current president Maada Bio has now shown to be toeing the same line, those who stole the Chinese rice, with ACC pretending to persecute them, are not back into employment? So please, get a life folks.
Wait a minute Mr Edwin John. Did I hear you say that your loyalty is not to any political party? Did you ever in your life admire any Sierra Leonean politician or government official? Are you a supporter of the ACC boss who has woefully failed in fighting corruption? Do you agree with me that he must be sacked? This is what you said – “if you have proof call the ACC, don’t come on this forum and falsely accuse folks”. This statement tells me that you a supporter of the ACC boss and the Bio SLPP kakistocracy. Right?
Reply to my questions as quickly as you possibly can Mr Edwin John. Hear Mr Edwin John there, hesitating to tell me how much he loves the failed ACC Boss and the Bio SLPP kakistocracy and he will defend them by all cost on this glorious platform. We are not Kids folks. God help Mr Edwin John
Certainly, the majority of Sierra Leoneans know that the man in State House has not got the credibility and moral ground to champion the crusade against corruption. It is like employing a notoriously light-fingered straggler, who had been hustling for over two decades in the diaspora, to investigate a group of hard-working patriots allegedly involved in pilferage. Undoubtedly, with the windfall of opportunities available to this cracksman, the first option is to enrich himself and later point the finger to his opponents. This is the sad story of Sierra Leone, where hustlers and substandard professors who used to ride bicycles to access lecture theatres, are now building mansions with proceeds from graft.
The classic headline: “Billions of foreign travel tax revenue missing in Sierra Leone government account” is just the start of things to come. The captain of this bandwagon of professional thieves, who is currently flushing the country’s scanty resources all over the world, is yet to come under the radar of the net. For now, he thinks he is safe and sound; though one day he will unwittingly forget to disguise his hallmarks, and the red net-trap will be spontaneously activated. GOTCHA!!! When one adopts a selective and malicious strategy in fighting corruption, then the current perpetrators will try as much as possible to beat the system. In the present context of Sierra Leone, this will lead to the proliferation of offshore bank accounts.
Ironically, the magnitude of the scale of corruption will increase; and the suffering masses languishing in abject poverty will have to put up with a greater uncertain future. At least the previous APC administration that is presently facing the music of corruption, invested their loot in the country, thereby creating wealth and employment within the country. Contrastingly, the new cohort of thieves in the ruling SLPP government, who will strive to shift most of their ill-gotten wealth abroad, will develop and create much needed employment in foreign countries. The present rhetoric in fighting corruption has to be revisited in order to prevent a wasteful and futile adventure.
L. Colsen, You’re not on your own, I stand with you. Believe me most Sierra Leoneans stand with you secretly, including those who on the surface make deafening noise about the white paper being a witch-hunt. Peer and other kinds of pressure are making them take to the streets to support corrupt officials.
Sierra Leoneans are not the political novices that they once were anymore. Nowadays, on street corners and behind closed doors they ask: “way den beday eat den gee me dai“?. Please carry on with your objectivity shrouded in impenetrable morality. Sierra Leone needs you at this trying time when people cannot afford basic necessities.
Hey Edwin John, just listen to yourself, “ Not everyone building homes does so through stolen funds.” Do you actually mean not every newly appointed political office holder that is building a mansion is doing so from stolen funds? Now tell me this, why is that you are among those delusional POAPA supporters screaming constantly for the crucifixion of former APC officials simply for owning multiple mansions? How hypocrite can one be?
My friend don’t attach me to political colour or party. My loyalty is not to any political party. My country has been raped and we as a people suffered because of greedy and selfish individuals. I want my country to be a better place and to take care of its citizens with its resources. If you have proof call the ACC, don’t come on this forum and falsely accuse folks. Better health care, good schools, clean drinking pipe water, better roads. Just the basics – is that too much to ask for?
Hey Colsen, you can deny all you like about not being a POAPA supporter or APC. However; just be aware that, the notion of you making up stuff on this glorious intellectual forum and get away with it, is none starter. You can say whatever you like but be rest assured that you will be fact checked and exposed for any propagandist statement. Lonta!!
Hallelujah! hallelujah!Hallelujah!…let the heavens be praised! Special Agent Young4na telling things as they really are on this glorious forum, not sugar coating a damn thing; Serving the hot peppery drink and most bitter pill – DRINK while you can for your time in power is running out – DRINK for any moment the SLPP will vanish and disappear into obscurity.(lol)
Young4na, first, I am not a Paopa. Second, I am neither APC nor SLPP. Third, I am beholding to no one in politics but to my fellow citizens who continue to suffer the legacy of perpetual and endemic corruption since the almost corrupt free administration of late Sir Milton Margai. People who are enablers of these corrupt politicians are themselves morally guilty.
We can bark all we want at the tree, but I hope the current administration will pursue any one found guilty of stealing state assets, regardless of his or her connections.
Remember, Mr Young4na, Sir, this time around, your insults, bullying and propaganda machine are not going to cut it. Those who stole and are found guilty must forfeit their sudden and ill gotten wealth. That is the bottom line – PERIOD….
They must forfeit their ill gotten wealth indeed. But, that should only be in a court of law and not by a naughty “Blank Paper”, OK. God bless Young4na.
We are waiting to hear from the ACC boss next week. The money missing now could create a very big gap in our economy if not returned back, so please Mr Ben Kaifala use your office to investigate the truth about this money and bring the victims to justice. We don’t need any long explanation about this and no politics. This is for the interest of the Nation. All we need from you is to conduct your investigation and bring the thieves to Justice, thank you.
Honourable ART, I apologize sir if I came across too hard on Colsen; just that some of these POAPA supporters sometimes need to be faced with the hard facts. They seem to be persistently living in cloud cuckoo land, spreading propagandist statements at will.
L. Colsen says—“ Please be assured that unlike the previous administration that stole with impunity, the Bio administration will address all alleged theft with the speed and seriousness which it deserves. The goal is to bring to light, as soon as they occur, any embezzlement of funds. Each departmental watchdog has the fiduciary responsibility to report all incidents of corruption to the ACC. So, the system is working as it should.” Hey Colsen, is your statement a mere case of ignorance in terms of successive governments efforts and approach in fighting corruption or just a typical bootlicking enunciation from a delusional POAPA supporter?
For crying out loud, in addition to the yearly audit report, do you have any idea how many cases of corruption were unearthed spontaneously on numerous occasions during the former regime? Albeit the clandestine moves undertaken by the same regime officials to clear out their partners in crime; were you not aware of the corruption trials of former mayor Herbert Williams, Kemoh Sesay, Afsatu Kabbah, Momoh Conteh, and a host of others all charged for corruption during EBK first term? If indeed the system was not working then as you claimed, how were the corrupt practices of these officials unearthed then?
Now in terms of your ludicrous assertion regarding the Bio regime ‘addressing all alleged theft with speed and seriousness it deserves’, how come we have to get anyone found wanting for the 50,000 bags of Chinese rice stolen by the POAPA officials? What about the over 140 billion Leones unaccounted for during the 2018 audit report? Who has been investigated?
Do you really think this platform is occupied by your typical villagers who could easily be brainwashed? By the way, below is a couple of links to educate yourself in regards to the efforts attempted by former president EBK in fighting corruption during his first term in office, just as President Bio is pretending to do the same now.
https://www.carl-sl.org/pres/the-judgement-in-the-state-v-momoh-konteh/
https://www.carl-sl.org/pres/the-follies-of-addressing-corruption-in-the-court-of-public-opinion/
Young4na – please you can make your point without insulting L. Colsen. You of all people should be setting a good example. Thank you.
I’m very delighted that people on the other side have started acknowledging what people, including myself have been saying all along. The Bio SLPP kakistocracy can’t fight corruption honestly, because they are not credible. Another Triple A interview promise broken by this inept ACC. The ACC boss promised sometime ago in an interview with Triple A, that he is going to proactively disrupt any corruption before the corruption even takes place. The only promise he did not break in that interview was being a Blackpool Football Fan. How on earth can these unscrupulous government officials and politicians, engage in such a massive fraud without the ACC knowing anything. Disgusting and appalling stuff.
With all the “tiger”, “cobra”, “crocodile” units of the ACC in place, the rogue officials and politicians escaped undetected. The present ACC setup is not fit for purpose. All what they care about is playing hide and seek with former APC government officials in the name of corruption, handcuffing poorly paid school teachers around the cotton tree, humiliating them, whilst winking their left eyes to rogue government officials and politicians who continue raping our country’s economy. It’s now clear that the ACC can’t do its job properly and has failed woefully. The ACC boss must resign or be fired.
Finally, President Bio, the Chief Minister and any official in the Bio SLPP kakistocracy will not escape the shores of Sierra Leone, if they were involved in any form of massive corruption or embezzlement, when the APC comes to power in 2023. I believe the APC will have measures to prevent them from escaping via the future 2 Billion Dollar Lungi Bridge. TBC.
In reference to the above article the ACC has responded. Please go read it.
Please be assured that unlike the previous administration that stole with impunity, the Bio administration will address all alleged theft with the speed and seriousness which it deserves. The goal is to bring to light, as soon as they occur, any embezzlement of funds. Each departmental watchdog has the fiduciary responsibility to report all incidents of corruption to the ACC.
So, the system is working as it should. Because corruption is endemic in the fabric of our society, we should not believe that it will go away with a strike of a pen or by presidential proclamation. Only with our collective effort will this disease be cured. So, please let’s stop the finger pointing.
Also, most of these ministers in the current administration held well paid jobs in foreign countries and UN agencies before accepting these positions. Some are in high positions in the administration who can afford to build such structures in Sierra Leone. We will at the end of their term, audit their holdings to verify if they lived beyond their means. I know a few of our country people residing in the US who have built or are building large houses in Freetown. These are ordinary people making ordinary incomes.
Mr L. Colsen, once again you seemed to be diverting the attention of the public from the real issues of corruption that are taking place on industrial scale in Sierra Leone. And that is both by past and present government officials. We need to take the issue of tackling corruption in Sierra Leone seriously . This is not a game of politics. The one undeniable fact, corruption doesn’t discriminate. You can be a Temne, Mende, Fulani Krio or what ever political party you happen to belong to, it’s destructive power, and it affects each and everyone of us. Your point about this Bio government is busy flagging up corruption and tackling it, is all well and good.
But dragging Sierra Leoneans fleeing their motherland because of corrupt politicians that have denied them that basic right to make a future in their own country, and muddling it to what’s really going on right now, is not only wrong but an insult to the intelligence of Sierra Leoneans. The fact that you alluded the diaspora are building houses back home, you’ve shown an amazing display of chutzpah. The two issues are different like day and night. Don’t even go there.
The mission of the ACC commissioner is a journey and not a destination. Corruption is endemic in our country that’s why that institution was created by late President Tejan Kabba. Thanks to the Almighty this alleged corruption has been investigated by the Africanist Press which should be treated as purely allegations.
This has nothing to do with the just concluded COI, and I hope that the lifetime leader of the APC party and his cohorts will not misconstrue this allegation to their situation which has been proven by the Auditor General, foreign forensic financial experts and two foreign and Sierra Leonean Judges. May the Almighty continue to bless and protect our ACC Commissioner.
Billions have again gone missing under the Bio government. This reinforces my argument about the white paper: The Bio administration/ACC should relentlessly pursue all those who stole our money and property in the full knowledge that in the near future revelations like what has happened now will surface. Allah/God save SLPP then. All those whose hands are filthy should be treated the same as Earnest and his gang are now being treated. We’re now at the commencement stage of a new dawn in our country where politicians and others have never heard the word corruption, let alone know its meaning.
Implicitly monies will start finding their way into projects that benefit all of us. A former President (Earnest Koroma) is now in prison in his home town. His former ministers and others are also in an open prison in various parts of the country – mostly around Freetown. They cannot leave the country on the orders of the Attorney-General who probably is aware of what corrupt Nigerian officials do; they suddenly diagnose themselves with a life-threatening illness for them to be allowed to leave the country for medical treatment. Upon arriving in one or other of the Western capitals, they recover from their illness as they leave the jet and run like the fastest land animal to find a hiding place.
Official corruption must come to an end. President Bio is setting the stage. The missing billions in foreign travel taxes have to be accounted for. It is an opportunity for Maada Bio to promptly set up an inquiry to start punishing those responsible. If he doesn’t then we know that he is in a mode of shielding and protecting his own while trying to shred Earnest Koroma and his former gang to pieces. Such a perception can only render the President as a hypocrite. He may have to leave the country on the first flight out of the country if APC defeat him in 2023. His chief minister will be on the second flight if he is lucky.
“Based on the fraud investigation carried out by the management of the National Revenue Authority (NRA),…” Telegraph. I think that the fight against corruptions is truly becoming a serious issue. I am happy for this. This is not an audit report. It is not a whistle blower’s report. Rather, it is a report based on a fraud investigation carried out by the senior management of the NRA. This is a clear indication that the management that took power at the NRA in mid or late 2018 saw the problem, and unlike the former management that waited for the Auditor General to reveal corruption at the institution in their yearly reports, which were never acted on.
The new management took action and instead of just sacking people who will go around crying that they have been laid off based on tribal, regional or political affiliations, an investigation was instituted which has unearth this massive corruption.
What the Central government would do with the findings of this fraud investigation would give us an indication about their commitment to fight corruption. We don’t have to wait for the yearly auditor general’s report to learn about corruption in our various institutions. Each institution should have in internal oversight to do periodic investigation. That way, we can curb corruption before it happens. Well done to the new NRA management.
That is very good. If this was unearth by the custodians of the institution, then they are doing a good job. After all, CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.
People in glass houses should not throw stones. The one direction government under president Bio seems to have found out the hard way. Fighting corruption in Sierra Leone is not a walk in the park. After weeks of bombarding us with avalanche of corruption cases involving the former president and his ministers, it seems the pendulum has finally swung back to the president and his so called little angels. Bio is now totally boxed in a catch 22 situation. In other words caught between the devil and the dip blue sea.
If there is one silver lining for the president, the public will always blame the ACC for their ineptitude and lack of common sense approach in fighting this cancer we call corruption. In opening up this Pandora box, the president has unwittingly placed his government on notice and on the spotlight. Well so is the public and our international creditors are led to believe. That we should judge his presidency by this noble action he has undertaken to rid Sierra Leone of this monster. So far after the highs and lows of this corruption cases, the reality of corruption in Sierra Leonean society has finally started to sink in.
The president, who was never suited to take on this giant task, let alone make any public pronouncement on corruption matters, has to put his own house in order, before he can put on his gloves in this David and Goliath fight. Now if this report is correct, it goes to show, corruption is not only endemic and entrenched in our society, but it has become a cultural thing. It will take more than three terms of a presidency, and with grit and determination to fight this scourge in our country.
And that the uncovering with our aviation has changed how we dealt with corruption a bit, in that we had more and more governments responding to us, asking for more and more help on corruption, or wanting to talk about some complexities of how corruption gets layered through our institutions. And so over time, we are happy that that conversation has changed. And that may sound a little silly, frankly, but those of you who have been in government and know that occasionally getting a talking point in a senior citizen’s main meeting is one of the hardest battles you can engage in in the bureaucracy.
So having someone stand up and say that corruption is a serious national security issue, the native Sierra Leonean should talk about this major cancer affecting the nation, talk about corruption is a significant threat for Sierra Leone. This trend has altered the way we could have a conversation about corruption, and it has sent a warning throughout the Sierra Leone government that this was an issue that we require doing further work on.
And so that permeated itself into having more officers throughout the government agencies, throughout Parliament, throughout ministries, throughout the Department of Defense, who took on corruption as a part of their portfolio. This recent uncovering has reverberated in different systems as we progressed through this refining. Fighting corruption takes a different meaning when a country like Sierra Leone is devoid of information standards, the basic communication infrastructures, business processes, business information policies, and laws governing ethics in civil societies. Corruption is prevailing against all our combined forces in fighting the corruption gangrene.
There you have it another revelation of the entrench corrupt practices taking place under this regime, yet gullible citizens are being FOOLED by the political witch hunt of the COI. Here in Freetown, almost everyone you speak to will tell you this current crop of POAPAs are corrupt to the core. Within less than 2 years in governance, majority of them are erecting mansions all over the place.
I went by a friend of mine’s house in the Grafton area the other day, he pointed several mansions to me that are under construction with the owners being POAPA officials. Hypocrites to the highest degree is exactly what these guys are.
If you really want to fight against corruption then you must start fighting it with your own government. It’s 100% mess and shameful of the government to fight against the opposition in the name of corruption in which they themselves know they are more corrupt.
If you and your “so called friend” have proof that the houses being built is through corrupt means, as a citizen please contact the ACC. But please don’t come on this forum and start making unsubstantiated claims. Not everyone building homes does so through stolen funds.