2022 Auditor General’s report has revealed that the Managing Director (MD), Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB), Yusufu Abdul Silla, extravagantly spent $140,000 dollars to purchase a vehicle.
This was revealed on Tuesday, 25th June, 2024 during a hearing in parliament. The probe into the alleged spending by the bank’s MD is being conducted by the Public Accounts Committee led by Honourable Ibrahim Tawa Conteh.
The Deputy Speaker frowned at the huge amount saying it was too much to purchase one vehicle. Responding, the MD said they had documents to the effect, but such claim was refuted by the chairman.
According to the document presented, the vehicle was bought in 2023, and Mr Silla claimed to have got directive from the SLCB Board. As the probe went on, Deputy Speaker requested SLCB MD to furnish the committee with the commercial invoice, sales agreement, Board approval, contract of the supply, payment schedule, shipping document, and delivery note of the vehicle in question.
The deputy speaker rescheduled a date for another hearing with the management of SLCB on that particular issue to know the reason for spending $140,000 on a vehicle.
Hon. Conteh urged them to take note of the documents and made them available to the committee, adding that that was the reason the bank’s Asset Register and schedule didn’t agree with each other.
In response, the MD admitted that the Asset Register and schedule did not agree because initially, the schedule submitted by the bank submitted to the audit team for addition had some problems which were eventually corrected.
He assured the committee that issues like that would not come up again in any Auditor General’s Report against the bank. The Deputy Speaker has also ordered the Risk Management Officer to appear before the committee on the next hearing.
Honourable Tawa Conteh also observed several issues in the 2022 Auditor General’s report that had to do with SLCB and asked the Deputy Auditor General, Morie Lansana, to join them in the next hearing.
According to the committee chairman, the next hearing will take place at the Speaker’s Conference Room in the House of Parliament.
It was also revealed that there were differences between the schedules submitted to them and the Fixed Asset Register as of 31st December, 2022.
The details under the Fixed Asset Register was ten million, six hundred and thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and thirty-seven point two nine Leones (Le10,637,437.29) and in the schedule, it was discovered that two million, seven hundred and fifty thousand, six hundred and seventy-five leones (Le2,750,675) which showed that there was a different of seven million, eight hundred and eighty-six thousand, seven hundred sixty-two point nine Leones (Le7,886,762.9).
Meanwhile, the Deputy Speaker rescheduled another hearing on the same matter.