Joseph Bockarie Noah, lead investigator at the Anti-Corruption Commission, on Tuesday 15 March 2022 stated before Justice Adrian Fisher at the High Court that the sum of $1 million was paid through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part payment for the chancery building in New York and it was Alie Kabba who was the minister at that material time.

According to Forum Newspaper, He also disclosed that Paul Mina, Director General and Ambassador at Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave private account to the Chinese government for them to pay the sum of $1 million into that account belonging to a company named Etic Sal.

Answering to questions posed to him by defence Counsel on behalf of Dr Samura Kamara, the ACC witness said the correspondent document showing the order given by Ambassador Mina for the said money to be paid into the private account was in their custody and would make it available before the court on the next adjourned date.

The ACC witness said Etic Sal was not involved in the reconstruction of the chancery building in New York and the account of the said company was not a government account.

Noah said as a prudent investigator they sought to know the ideas, experience and shareholders of Etic Sal Company.

He agreed before the court that one of the shareholders of Etic Company was a Guinean national named Abdul-Rahmani Kabba who lived at 8 Leicester Peak Road in Freetown and he had 75% share of the company. The other person was Fatumatu Kabba, an America national, who lived at the same address and she had 15% shares of the same company.

He was asked by defence counsel Ady Macauley, whether Alie Kabba also resided at the same address but Noah replied that he could not tell.

The ACC investigator stated further that in the statements of the first accused Saidu Nallo, he said that the then Ambassador Francis Kaikai requested for the reconstruction of the chancery building in New York.

He said also that in the first accused statements he told the ACC that the Chinese government made a commitment to give the sum of two million US dollars ($2M) for the rehabilitation of the said building in New York and the first part payment was made to Alie Kabba through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

He was asked by defence counsel if the ACC had asked Alie Kabba which account he gave to the Chinese government for the money to be paid into and he responded that they did ask him.

He also said he had been an investigator for twenty years and he had served as the chief investigator at the ACC.

He explained that at the ACC they had layers and the investigation department comprised teams and each team was headed by senior investigating officers who had also been supervised and those supervisors would report to him and he would report to the Deputy Director of the commission.

Noah said that whenever progress report was sent to him, he would look at the report and ensure that work had been done correctly.

He said that during investigations when information was given to them by the accused they would not take it as granted but would look into their own investigations.

He said the indictments of the accused were submitted to him for comments and input and after that he did send them to the Deputy Director of the commission.

At this juncture, defence counsel Ady Macauley sought for a date he would continue his cross-examination. The matter comes up on Thursday 17 March 2022.