Police in eastern Sierra Leone said on Monday that according to monetary transaction documents, a man who’s currently in their custody and accused of defrauding residents of millions in local currency, may have fraudulently collected more than Le600M from his victims.

TVNews-24 reports that Morrison Kallon of Tambawa street in Kenema town, police say, allegedly collected about Le622M ($62395.35).

“From the transaction documents we found with him, the money in question is about Le622M that people have allegedly given to him to invest. I will not disclose the exact amount he has in his account now, because we are still investigating the matter. But definitely the money doesn’t even make up one third of the said sum,” Criminal Investigations Department Det. Sgt. Lansana Jajua, says.

Jajua, the CID detective, says in their initial investigation, they found a Kenema City Council certificate affiliated with a Natural Rich Global business.

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“We saw a business certificate from the local council here. But we didn’t see any document from the Bank of Sierra Leone permitting the business to go ahead. I can’t conclude for now whether the business is legal or illegal. We have sent the file to the state counsel for advice on the matter. He will legally advice us as to our next step in this investigation,” the police detective sergeant said.

Residents had earlier alleged that they gave Kallon huge sums of money after he convinced them to invest in a business venture. And in return, they alleged, each investor will accrue substantial interest rates within weeks.

In fact, residents claimed Kallon told them that they’ll singly receive Le420,000 in 22 days – after investing in the proposed business. But they said they didn’t receive any money from the promised interest rates.

And that disappointed and subsequent frustration, residents say, led to the burning of tires and other inflammable materials on Sunday, outside Kallon’s residence.

“We were meant to believe that the business he is doing is registered with line ministries, because he showed us documents to prove that. I have put over Le14M in this business with the expectation that after every 22 days, I’m going to get a profit of Le420,000. But as I talk to you right now, even the money I put into the business haven’t been given back to me, talk less of the profit,” Junisa Moijueh, an alleged victim, says.

Hawanatu Sannoh, another alleged victim, says she spent more than Le13M in Kallon’s business proposal; after a friend of hers convinced her to participate.

“I was convinced by my friend to join it, because initially I didn’t believe the business. I paid a registration fee of Le750,000, and other expenses amounting to Le13,750,000 with the hope that after every 22 days, I will have an interest of Le420,000, but it never happened. Right now all my money is gone, and we really hope the police will judiciously look into this matter,” Sannoh says.