Sierra Leone Telegraph: 22 July 2019:
The home of one of the Judges chairing the three commissions of inquiry into alleged corruption and abuse of office by ministers and senior officials of the former APC government – Justice Biobele Georgewill, was broken into last night, by unidentified persons.
According to reports, the Nigerian Judge Biobele Georgewill was asleep, when the break-in took place.
It is understood that the culprits took away a laptop computer belonging to the Judge, which contains years of personal files, including confidential documents relating to the inquiry he is conducting in Sierra Leone.
There are speculations as to who could have carried out such an audacious crime on a property believed to have been heavily secured in Goderich, in the far west of Freetown. The police are investigating the crime.
What is of major concern though, is the shocking breach of data security, for those giving evidence at the inquiry, whose personal confidential information are stored on the computer.
This astounding data security breach, could now compromise and jeopardise months of hard work of collecting and investigating several alleged cases of corruption and abuse of power in Sierra Leone..
The Secretariat of the Commissions of Inquiry has issued this statement:
Let the law takes it course against anyone found guilty of the robbery of Judge Biobele Georgewill.
It seems there are still people in the old government who don´t want to be disclosed to the public, so, they continue playing havoc to the process and persecution of the corrupt people. I am sure those involved in the burglary will soon be caught. We need a clean Sierra Leone and at all levels.
Please qive chance to the government to continue in its bid to recover stolen properties of the country which also include the finance and misappropriation of the country´s wealth. Sierra Leone needs a strong government as now to control and fix the statehood of the country. It is time since Sierra Leone lost her statehood and now that the government is trying to restore it, rouges are planning and have planned to stop that. GOD BLESS SIERRA LEONE THE PRESIDENT AND THE PEOPLE. AMEN
There is something wrong with the security conduct. If I was president and this particular horrific and nightmarish situation happens to the judge, first step is to suspend head of police – Moigbe from his post until the investigation is concluded, because this has to do with security threats to the nation. If we can’t protect ourselves, well there is a need to protect foreigners. I am disconsolate about the commission of enquiry ongoing process.
The judge has personal security. Where were they when the robbers entered the house?
Corruption is fighting back.
This is an act of the offenders to harass and intimidate the Judges.
This is a national disgrace.I feel very ashamed to be a Sierra Leonean.This is the type of thing that I never want to be associated with my country. But let us take a closer look at our security apparatus and Andrew Moigbe,the Inspector General of Police, in Particular.
It is extraordinarily baffling that this so-called head of our law enforcement system could not contrive the simple fact that all the jurists leading the commissions of inquiries are a target of those who feel aggrieved by their mandate.Their exposure of massive corruption by the previous government is making the affected parties livid with rage and a strong desire to cause harm that has the potential of seriously distabilising the whole country,thereby halting the commissions of inquiry.
How then could Andrew Moigbe be so lacking in common sense as to assign just three security personnel to each of the jurists,according to Umaru Fofanah reporting for the BBC from Freetown ? To make matters worse, only one of the security officers was on duty.How come? Was it a plan?
President Bio should see this moment as the best opportunity to shake up the security services and get Moigbe to look for another job. We are extremely lucky as a nation that Justice Georgewill was not killed. We now await what any investigation will reveal.
Who do you think did this crime? Scratch your head and be a judge for yourself. We have many commentators that are always contributing here, now we want to hear from them. President Bio should not have given that money to the APC leadership or the members at all. We opposed it yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever. Let the police do their jobs. Thank you.
The judge reportedly had six armed police personnel as his personal security. Where were they when the judge was attacked?
Good question my brother.
HE President Bio said sometime ago that “when you fight corruption, corruption fights back”. Given the GRAND corruption the Commissions of Inquiry are looking into, why wasn’t the President’s “warning” given optimum consideration by the Sierra Leone Police?
From the various reports – national and international – on this matter the robbers were after electronic material of the proceedings in Justice Biobele’s Commission, and not to cause him physical harm. But carting away his personal laptop could prove embarrassing for the Judge as the material in it may be sensitive – personal apart from Commission of Inquiry – related.