The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has said it has “no clear evidence of misappropriation of funds” by officials of National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) and their partners that could warrant an indictment.
This came after it concluded an investigation on allegations of misappropriation of public funds by officials of the (NaCSA) and a staff of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which emanated from a video footage screened by the Africa Young Voices (AYV) Television on May 12, 2020, in which supposed beneficiaries expressed frustrations over the payment of funds provided by the Government of Sierra Leone to vulnerable people in the Bombali community to cushion the effects of the three-day lockdown.
ACC noted that though there was no clear evidence, “but there is a clear situation of weak policies in some instances no procedures as to how to undertake such ventures.”
“Adequate measures were not put in place to forestall corrupt activities by staff of NaCSA, its partners and the beneficiaries because of the rush to implement the safety net Cash Transfer Payment by the Government, and the sudden announcement of the pending lockdown due to Covid-19 spread fears. More importantly also, there was no identity check of beneficiaries before payments were effected which left room for duplicity and lack of transparency in the process,” the ACC noted in their statement on Monday June 29, 2020.
The Commission in their statement recommends a review of the policies surrounding such payments because the processes around it appears to be mostly ad hoc; and therefore leaves room for corruption and corrupt practices in the generation of lists, payment and fraudulent activities by some disingenuous beneficiaries – as it happened in that case.
“The ACC will not prosecute any staff of NaCSA and or its partners as there is no evidence that points to their involvement in the extortion of beneficiaries or that establishes criminal responsibility contrary to what was presented in the print, electronic and social media,” the Commission said in its statement.
The ACC said that the matter was carefully and promptly investigated and their findings reveal that the list used to pay beneficiaries emanated from the various partners working with NaCSA, and was not generated by NaCSA itself. It was further revealed in the statement that payment of beneficiaries commenced on Saturday 2nd May 2020 at the Makeni City Council, and 276 were paid on that day.
“On Monday 4th May 2020, payment recommenced and payment teams were divided into two groups to expedite the payments to beneficiaries. Team One was headed by Brian Smart-Kanu and they paid beneficiaries at the Makeni City Council and Teko Veterinary. The other team was headed by Sheik Ahmed Bobor-Kamara; and Johnette Kanu, the ACC District Monitor, was part of this team. This team paid beneficiaries at National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD) office at Frontier Road and 10 Arabic College Road. Payments went well in all three payment points except for 10 Arabic College Road, where there were alleged incidents of corruption as captured by the AYV video footage,” the statement said.
The ACC said that their investigations revealed that Mary Kamara, also a beneficiary, … admitted that she machinated and participated in the scheme of calling neighbours and passers-by to stand in as proxies for four registered beneficiaries who were absent on the day of the payment. These were: Isatu Kamara-Will, Fatmata Tarawalie, Isatu F. Koroma, and Sonita Koroma. Mary Kamara made a fraudulent agreement with the four persons that when they answer to the names of beneficiaries that were absent, Forty Thousand Leones (Le40,000) would be given to each of them (the proxies) as reward for standing in for the absent registered beneficiaries and the remaining amount would be retained by her in trust for the legitimate beneficiaries.
The ACC asserted that the Paying team was not aware of those illicit arrangements and their investigations did not lead to any evidence to show that the NaCSA team solicited and/or received any money from Mary Kamara or any of her fraudulent proxies.
By Sallieu Kanu
29/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7855