The Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Francis Ben Kaifala, has presented the second cheque of 7.5 billion leones to President Julius Maada Bio during a ceremony at State House. He told the President that his Commission is taking a three prong approach to the fight against corruption and this involves investigations and prosecutions, prevention and non-conviction asset recovery.
He continued that, with the support of Government, his Commission has been able to use the non-conviction asset recovery method to raise huge quantum of money, which has amounted to over Le16 billion. He added that, in December, 2018, the Commission also presented Le7.5 billion, which, according to him, the President has committed to build a state of the arts diagnostic facility in the country.
Francis Kaifala lauded the commitment and good work of his staff at the Commission, which, according to him, had culminated to such a huge achievement. He pointed out that the achievements of the ACC are not his sole efforts but that several, of his staff, have put their lives on the firing line to fight corruption.
Receiving the cheque, President Bio noted that he made a personal commitment during his inauguration to fight corruption and even declared it as a national menace. The President attributed the fight against corruption as a national fight which all Sierra Leoneans should embrace.
Corruption, according to President Bio, should be fought to the end. He concluded by noting that the problems of Sierra Leone are both manmade and natural. The issue of corruption, he added, is manmade and should be eliminated. He called on all to rebrand Sierra Leone as a corrupt free country.
He thanked the ACC Commissioner for the leadership at the ACC and also applauded the staff of the Commission and the people of Sierra Leone for adhering to the clarion call to fight and treat corruption as a national enemy.
President Bio concluded by also applauding the ACC for the country’s improvement in the Millennium Challenge Corporation ratings, which moved Sierra Leone from 41 to 71.
The presentation of the cheque to President Bio marks the ACC Commissioner one year in office.