By Sallieu S. Kanu
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed an indictment against Abdul Salim Mansaray, former Head of Retail Operations at ECOBANK (SL) Limited, ECOBANK (SL) Limited of No. 7 Lightfoot Boston Street, Tallu Jalloh, a resident of Calaba Town, and Magnus Samuel Valentine Cole of Lewis Street, Kenema, on 47 Counts of corruption offences.
The ACC said in a statement on Tuesday that Abdul Salim Mansaray is indicted on 57 counts of Misappropriation of Public Revenue, contrary to Section 36 (1), One (1) Count of Unlawfully Acquiring Public Property contrary to Section 48 (1) (a), One (1) Count of Conspiracy to Commit a Corruption Offence, contrary to Section 128 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 12 of 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act No. 9 of 2019; Eight (8) Counts of Providing Misleading Information contrary to Section 95 (2) as read with Section 107 (2), and One (1) Count of Transferring Property with the Aim of Disguising its Illicit Nature contrary to Section 170 (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism and Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act No. 4, 2024.
ECOBANK (SL) LIMITED is indicted on 142 Counts of corruption offences; 57 Counts of Misappropriation of Public Revenue contrary to Section 36 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 12 of 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act No. 9 of 2019, Fifty-Seven (57) Counts of Failure to Report a Suspicious Transaction contrary to Section 156 (2), Eighteen (18) Counts of Failure to conduct Due Diligence concerning a Customer’s Transaction contrary to Section 92 (2) as read with Section 107 (1) and Section 170 (2), and Ten (10) Counts of Providing Misleading Information contrary to Section 95(2) as read with Section 107 (1) and Section 170 (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism and Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act No. 4, 2024.
TALLU JALLOH is indicted on One (1) Count of Unlawfully Acquiring Public Property contrary to Section 48 (1) (a) and One (1) Count of Conspiracy to Commit a Corruption Offence contrary to Section 128 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 12 of 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act No. 9 of 2019.
Magnus Samuel Valentine Cole is indicted on One (1) Count of Unlawfully Acquiring Public Property* contrary to Section 48 (1) (a) and *One (1) Count of Conspiracy to Commit a Corruption Offence* contrary to Section 128 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 12 of 2008 as amended by the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Act No. 9 of 2019.
According to the Particulars of Offence, Abdul Salim Mansaray and ECOBANK (SL) Limited, through the conduct of its former Head of Retail Operations, on diverse dates between March 2022 and October 2023, diverted tax revenues for the National Revenue Authority (NRA) to the Bank Accounts of Magnus Vincent Cole And Tallu Jalloh totaling Seventeen Million, Four Hundred And Fifty-Three Thousand Eight Hundred And Sixty-Three (New) Leones (LE 17, 453, 863.35).
The said taxes were paid by OXFAM, FG Gold Ltd., Clearing and Suspense, Meya Mining, Casila Educational Company, Atlantic Lumley Hotel, the Hub Hotel, A. Yazbeck Global Services, Wongor Investment and Mining, CICA Motors, N.P. (SL) Limited and CONEX Energy.
The savings accounts of both Tallu Jalloh and Magnus Samuel Valentine Cole were credited with unusually high amounts of funds that qualified as suspicious transactions for which ECOBANK (SL) LIMITED failed to report as suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Agency under Section 107 (1) and Section 170 (2) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Terrorism and Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act No. 4, 2024.