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The Anti-Corruption Commission ACC has recovered $138,000 (one hundred and thirty-eight thousand dollars) from an entity called Etic Sarl’s that was established in Sierra Leone by three non- Sierra Leoneans.
The recovery is in relation to the corruption investigations of the Chancery Building in Manhattan in New York City says Emmanuel Koivaya Amara, Coordinator of Operation at the ACC.
“We realized that of the $100,000 that was paid in the Etic Sarl’s account, over $7000 had already been sent to New York. What remained in the account that was not paid is $138,000. As I speak to you although we have not been able to see the people, two of them are Guineans and the other is a Senegalese but then through the Legal team, we have not been able as a commission to recover all $138,00″, Amara said.
He was speaking in a meeting with a Civil Society Organization (CSO’s) and journalists at the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL) on the 19th January 2022, organized by People Power Movement (PPM).
Amara explained that the first $2,000,000 was donated in 2016 by partners and that the other $2,000,000 was donated after 2018. He added that the first donation went into the consolidated revenue fund.
On 28 may 2021, the ACC announced the detainment of some Sierra Leoneans diplomats in the wake of investigations into issues surrounding “renovation or reconstruction” of the country’s Chancery building in New York in the United States.
According to the ACC, those were people working at the Chancery considered to be key in the investigations and who have been recalled to assist the commission in the investigations. The Country’s anti- graft agency confirmed investigations focus on work done on the Chancery property for which $4M was reportedly made available.
Politico Newspaper reports that, the commission was looking at the period 2011 to 2019 believed to be the time of transfer of such money. The ACC statement confirmed the commencement of elaborate forensic investigations and of having recovered “document and records” that it said were of relevance to the investigation and which were been examined by “forensic analysts.”
Responding to questions on the investigation of the corruption allegation against the First Lady, Fatima Bio, and Amara said he is not aware of any specific provision on allocation both in the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and the Constitution of Sierra Leone. “I will tell you specifically I have seen no Act that make any provision for allocation to the office of the first Lady,” he said.
He Added: “However, the finance Act gives the power to the Finance Minister to make an allocation to areas that are not even included in any legislation as long as they are viable. The reason we would not go beyond investigation to prosecute, was because no offence was committed.”
