By Janet Sesay
As the Haji case continues at the High Court, which is presided over by Justice Reginald Finn, the Anti-Corruption Commission investigator, Joseph Bockarie Noah, on Friday 28th September 2018 tendered the interview statements of each of the accused in court.
He told the court that, on diverse dates between the 1st September 2017 and 31st July 2018, himself and his colleagues obtained interview statements from all the accused.
He said, in respect of the first accused, Sheika Sahid Kamara, himself and Thomas T. Kanu commenced his interview statement on the 5th September 2017. The interview was taken at a safe location around Congo Cross.
According to him, he was cautioned and informed about his right to a counsel representative. Lawyer Elvis Kargbo was present during the interview.The interview of the first accused ended on the 28th November 2018 and the interview statement was tendered in court as Exhibit X1-X114.
At this point, the prosecutor, Calvin Mansteloo, made an application for the interview statement of the first accused to be read to the court, but the lead defense, Yada William, objected to the application, citing that it will waste the precious time of the court. He said that the prosecution should only highlight specific areas that should be read in the statement and not all the pages of the statement.
The prosecutor replied that the matter is significant and touches on the reputationof important personalities in the country. He said it will take time, but the matter should be pursued properly.
In the Judge’s ruling, he said the prosecutor should highlight certain areas that need to be clarified in court and not the entire pages of the statement.
The witness continued that, in respect of the second accused, Victor Bockarie Foh, himself and Thomas also obtained interview statement from him on two occasions. The first interview was done on the 21st September 2017 and the second accused chose to make a statement all by himself without his lawyer present.When the interview continued on 5th July 2018 his counsel was present and his statement was tendered in court as Exhibit Y1-Y29.
He said, in respect of the third accused, Minkailu Mansaray, statements were also obtained from him on two occasions by himself and Thomas Kanu, on the 23rd September 2017 and 10th July 2018. He said the accused also chose to proceed with the interview without the presence of his counsel.
On the first and second occasions, his counsels, Yada William and Abdul Karim Koroma, were present and his interview statement was tendered and marked as Exhibit Z1-Z44.
He continued that, in respect of the fourth accused, Mohammed Alie Bah, he instructed his colleagues, Momodu Sitta and Umaru Sesay, to obtain interview statements from the accused on various dates. But since he is the lead investigator they handed over to him the interview statement and it has since been in his custody and was tendered in court and marked as exhibit AA1-AA37.
He said that, in respect of the fifth accused, Ibrahim Fakeh Conteh, he instructed his colleagues, GibrillBangura and Thomas Kanu, to obtain a statement from him and hand over the interview statement on the 11th July 2018.
He added that, himself and Thomas Kanu obtained additional statement from the fifth accused, where he also chose to proceed with the interview in the absence of his counsel and his statement was tendered and marked as Exhibit BB1-BB32.
He said in respect of the sixth accused, Abu-bakarr Carew, statements were obtained from him on the 26th September 2017 by himself (witness) and Thomas Kanu where he also chose to proceed with the interview without his counsel and his interview statement was tendered and marked as Exhibit CC1-CC13.
He ended that, at the end of each interview by all accused, they were given the opportunity to read over the interview statement to make amendments necessary by adding, editing or satisfying it to be true and correct by appending their signatures. He signed as the interviewer and Thomas signed as the recorder.
The prosecutor, at this stage, sought for an adjournment as he said he needed to look at the interview statements of the accused and pick out specific areas he wants the witness to read out in court. The application was granted by the judge.
They are facing eight charges that range from conspiracy to commit a corrupt offence, engaging in payment without proper planning, misappropriation of office funds, knowingly misleading the Commission and willfully failing to comply with applicable procedures and guidelines relating to the management of funds.
The High Court details state that Sheka Sahid Kamara, being the Special Assistant to the former President and former Secretary to the Haji Coordinating Committee in 2017; Minkalu Mansaray, former Minister of Marine Resources and Chairman of the 2017 Hajj Committee; Mohammed Alieu Bah, former Minister of State, Office of the Vice President and member of the Hajj Coordinating Committee; and Abu Carew, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, on 1st January 2017 and 30th September 2017 in Freetown, conspired with other persons unknown to engage in payment without proper planning, to wit preparation for the 2017 pilgrimage of Sierra Leone Muslims to Saudi Arabia without proper planning.
The charges furthered that the accused, on the same day, engaged in payment without proper planning by undertaking preparations for the 2017 pilgrimage for Sierra Leoneans to Saudi Arabia.
Sheku Sahid Kamara and the former Vice President were also charged with conspiring with other persons unknown to misappropriate public funds of 80,000USD, being funds donated to the government of Sierra Leone for the benefit of Sierra Leone Muslim pilgrims to perform the hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Sheka Sahid Kamara, Minkailu Mansaray and Ibrahim Alie Bah, according to the charges, were also accused of knowingly misleading the Anti-corruption Commission by making false statement to the investigators of the Commission, where they falsely claimed that 60,000 USD was handed over to Victor Foh by Sheku Sahid Kamara on 11th September 2017 without truth and fact. They also claimed that 80,000 USD had been left in custody of Victor Foh. These claims were made by Sheku on diverse dates between 1stand 20th August 2017.
According to the charges, the accused were also found to have misappropriated Le300,000,000between the 1st July and 30th September 2017. These were public funds donated to the government of Sierra Leone for Muslims intending to perform hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Also, between 1stand 30th August 2017, the accused willfully failed to comply with the applicable procedures and guidelines in approving the withdrawal of 314,000 USD by Sheka Sahid Kamara from the Hajj Coordinating Committee 2017 at EcoBank, using Account No. 003001012236100284 maintained by the Ministry of Social Welfare.