The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), in an effort to trace and recover stolen or lost assets nationwide, has hosted a two days training session, which commenced on Wednesday, 2nd April, at the Integrity House’s Conference Room, and scheduled to conclude on Thursday, 3rd April, 2025.

The training which was organized by the Restitution Impact of United Kingdom, brought together participants from various Law Enforcement Agencies, including the Law Officers’ Department, the Sierra Leone Police (CID, Interpol, TOCU, IIS), Financial Intelligence Agencies, Center for Intelligence and Security Agencies, the National Revenue Authority (Customs), and Civil Society Organizations.

Reportedly, the training is a part of the ongoing capacity-building initiatives provided by the Restitution Impact to help in strengthening the expertise of the Anti-Corruption Commission staff, with specific focus on investigators and prosecutors.

The Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Francis Ben Kaifala, in his opening speech, stressed on the high cost of executing such training sessions, which he said the institutional budget do not always accommodate, recognizing that joining force with the Restitution Impact would strengthen their economic challenges by providing expert-led training, locally, that would provide benefits to participants. “They can impact knowledge so you receive the same cutting-edge training and experience without having to travel,” he asserted.

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He continued by stating that although the fight against corruption is being handled by one institution, he said the fight requires a joint force with multiple stakeholders and partners, describing the asset recovery program as one of the most challenging steps to take, thus recommending it as the key step to take in fight against corruption.

The Commissioner strongly discarded that the focus should not always be on court trials, but on retrieving stolen resources, and went forward to commend the Restitution Impact for swiftly responding to their aid by promoting the skills needed for executing the retrieval plan.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of Restitution Impact, Chris Duckett highlighted the dual focus of the training related to both the legal and the investigative aspects of asset recovery, stressing on the importance of filtering through the vast amounts of information to identify key elements that promote the recovery of stolen funds. He maintained, “Often, we are overwhelmed by information, insights, and prospective on asset recovery. What truly matters is ensuring that what has been stolen is returned to the national coffers.”

Partner at Wiley Rein, Washington D.C., USA, Tatiana Sainati addressed the crucial role of asset recovery in fighting against corruption, thus affirming that legal compliance is important in asset recovery investigations, stating that failure to adhere to legal standards could cause the execution of the recovery plan ineffective.

The Deputy Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption, Augustine Foday Ngobie propelled participants of the training session to fully engage in the training, effortlessly, thus stressing on the need for continuous learning to improve asset recovery efforts. He concluded, “the essence of this training is to focus on asset recovery and to continually prepare ourselves for the challenges ahead.”