By Ralph Sesay
Mohamed Idrissa Alooma Kamara, former Managing Director, Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, has made startling revelations at the Justice Biobele Commission of Enquiry regarding the bank’s credit policy to Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) between September 2017 and September 2018.
Mr. Kamara noted that, PEPs have huge influence and are also serving as proxy shareholders of the bank.
The Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, he stated, is bound by Section 35 (a) of the Banking Act of Sierra Leone on the giving of credit/unsecured loans. The bank’s Act states that the bank can give loans to PEPs provided it does not go beyond the 10% capital of the bank.
The former Managing Director was giving a testimony on behalf of the state at the Commissions of Enquiry in the matter involving the giving of huge loans/credits to PEPs.
Mr. Kamara was responding to a number of questions put to him by state lead counsel, including the amount of loans/credits he issued when he was in office, what guided his discretion to give such loans, payment plans as well as his view on the bank’s credit policy.
The former Managing Director made it clear that the bank’s credit policy was faulty to the point that Managing Directors like him were in a position of conflict since PEPs, according to him, are influential in the appointment of them as Managing Directors of the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank and hence it was difficult to resist them in such matters.
He recommended that the Bank of Sierra Leone, in the future, should provide guidelines for commercial banks to follow in the issuing of credit/unsecured loans to politically exposed persons.
Mr. Alooma Kamara noted such guidelines would serve as defense for subsequent Managing Directors in the issuing of loans to politically exposed persons. He took time to note that SLCB has a well structured policy for Members of Parliament in terms of giving out loans/credits facilities.
On securing payment of the loans given to PEPs, Mr. Kamara noted that the SLCB has a debt collection unit and that other internal efforts are also being followed by the bank to get PEPs to comply and liquidate their debts.
“We normally also use our external solicitors to get these PEPs to honour their debts, including advising the Ministry of Finance to hold on to end of service benefits of such persons,” Mr. Kamara told the Commission.
The former MD also told the Commission that, he has, in a case in point, written letters to one of the PEPs, asking the Ministry of Finance to do same as stated above.
Justice Biobele had earlier on urged the witness to be frank and bring out all these challenges facing them as Managing Directors, especially as it has to do with them managing or giving out credits/unsecured loans to politically exposed persons. This, Justice Biobele continued, will help them as sole Commissioners in making their final reports to government.
Cross examining the witness, defense counsel for persons of interest, Ady Macauley, asked the witness to clarify whether the accounts of the persons of interest were frozen. He responded that, during his tenure, he had received a letter from the Bank of Sierra Leone instructing SLCB to restrict all the accounts of Politically Exposed Persons mentioned in the Governance Transition Team Report.